Lipid oxidation products and chick nutritional encephalopathy.

Safflower oil and its distilled methyl esters were thermally oxidized and fed to young chicks in a vitamin E deficient diet. At a dietary level of 10%, the oxidized lipids caused more severe nutritional encephalopathy (NE) than the unoxidized methyl esters, indicating that factors other than dietary linoleic acid and vitamin E affect the development of NE. A polar lipid extract from oxidized methyl esters accelerated the induction of NE, as did the synthetic methyl esters of keto-octadecenoic and keto-octadecadienoic acids. Dicumarol exerted a protective action against NE. The possibility is discussed that conjugated keto-polyenoic fatty acids, provided by oxidized oils or formed endogenously in vitamin E deficiency, may play a role in causing NE.