Effect of repeated halothane anesthesias on Syrian hamster lung lipids.

Sixteen adult Syrian hamsters were exposed 33 times over a 19-day period to enough halothane to induce a deep surgical plane of anesthesia. The exposures caused no significant change in the total amount of lipid in the exposed lungs; however, the percentage of neutral lipid due to cholesterol increased from 29 +/- 5% to 43 +/- 7% while the percentage of free fatty acid decreased from 33 +/- 3% to 22 +/- 5%. Among the phosphoglycerides, there was a slight shift toward more phosphatidyl choline and less phosphatidyl serine, phosphatidyl glycerol, and phosphatidyl ethanolamine.