Absorption of I-^I4C lignoceric acid in the rat

LIGNOCERIC acid, the straight-chain fatty acid having 24 carbon atoms, is a constituent of the sphingolipids where it is found in amide linkage with sphingosine. No compound having this fatty acid in ester bond has been isolated so far from animals. It has, however, been shown that when 1-¹⁴C lignoceric acid was administered to rats, it was incorporated into both bhe sphingolipids and esterified lipids such as neutral and phosphoglycerides ¹. Since sphingolipids are constituents of the regular diet, the work reported here was undertaken to determine whether lignoceric acid is absorbed at all, and if so, in what form it would be transported, after absorption, in the lymph.