LOCALIZATION BY AUTORADIOGRAPHY OF PHOSPHOLIPID SYNTHESIS IN RABBIT ATHEROSCLEROTIC AORTA

Autoradiographic techniques have been used to determine the portions of the arterial wall responsible for the phospholipid synthesis which occurs therein. Aortas obtained from cholesterolfed rabbits have been incubated with 14C-labeled choline or with 3H-labeled oleic acid, and the uptake and incorporation into phospholipid of these two precursors studied biochemically and by autoradiography. 14C-labeled choline was incorporated into choline-containing phospholipids, predominantly into lecithin, in the lesion and these changes were shown to occur predominantly in the foam cells present. 3H-labeled oleic acid was taken up and incorporated into both phospholipid and cholesterol ester, but extraction by acetone of all the 3H-labeled lipid present, except for the phospholipid, enabled localization of phospholipid synthesis to foam cells to be confirmed. © 1969.