Plasma transport forms of ingested fatty alcohols in the rat.

Previous studies have shown that ingested fatty alcohols are absorbed as fatty acids and fatty acid esters, particularly triglycerides. The present study was carried out to determine whether fatty alcohols are also transported as 0-alkyl glyceryl ethers, alk-1-enyl glyceryl ethers, and as wax esters. Oxidation of fatty alcohols to other lipids was assessed by using a mixture of [1-3H] hexadecanol and [1-14C] hexadecanol of predetermined ratio. The results indicate that the absorption of fatty alcohol, and of its transport forms, parallels the absorption of labeled fatty acids. Six to 25% of plasma radioactivity was present as 1-0-alkyl diacylglyceryl ethers with a smaller proportion of ether lipids in the phospholipid fraction. In addition, 4-13% of the ingested hexadecanol appeared in the plasma as a material having the chromatographic properties of wax ester. Fatty alcohols were not detected in the plasma as alk-1-enyl lipids.