ACKMAN 1 Animal lipids

Figure 2-5 Chromatogram of Milk Fat Fatty Acid Composition Analyzed as Butyl Esters on a 30-m Capillary Column. Source Reprinted from R.G. Ackman, Animal and Marine Lipids, in Improved and Technological Advances in Alternative Sources of Lipids, B. Kamel and Y. Kakuda, eds., p. 298, 1994, Aspen Publishers, Inc.

This phenomenon was later proved valid for poikilothennic animals also, including fish (Kizevetter, 1942 Shkorbatov, 1961 Ackman, 1964 Hilditch and Williams, 1964 Lunde, 1973). The desaturation of lipids in fish and other water animals varies with the climatic-geographical zone, with annual cycles (depending on changing water temperature) and with temperature adaptations which develop under experimental conditions (Hoar and Cottle, 1932 Lewis, 1962 Farkas and Herodek, 1964 Privolnev and Brizinova, 1964). 

The close inverse relationship between ambient temperature and the percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the lipids of poikilothermic animals has been confirmed by many research workers (Johnston and Roots, 1964 Ackman and Eaton, 1966 Knipprath and Mead, 1966 Jangaard et al., 1967 Roots, 1968 Morris and Schneider, 1969 Caldwell and Vemberg, 1970 Kemp and Smith, 1970 Baldwin, 1971 Hazel, 1972 Lynen, 1972 Viviani et al., 1973 Ota and Yamada, 1975 Patton, 1975 Bolgova et al., 1976 Deng et al., 1976 Driedzic et al., 1976 Irving and Watson, 1976 Leslie and Buckley,... 

These three test animals also differ in their cardiac lipid composition. For example, in the test animals fed control fats or oils, the cardiac triglycerides comprise about 10% of the total cardiac lipids of the pig (Opstvedt et a/., 1979), 10-20% of the rat (Astorg and Cluzan, 1977 Bellenand et a/., 1980 Hung and Holub, 1977 Kramer and Hulan, 1978b Myher et a/., 1979 Rocquelin, 1979), and 50% of the monkey (Ackman, 1980). The proportion of the cardiac phospholipids is also different between species. For example, in the pig the concentration of SP is greater than PE, whereas in the rat the inverse is found (Table XXII). 

Lipids are important as pheromones, precursors of pheromones, or carriers of pheromones in plants and animals. The topic has been reviewed for vertebrates and insects by Shorey (1976) and for invertebrates (mainly helminths) other than insects by Haseeb and Fried (1988). Lipophilic pheromones or their carriers are mainly glycerides, free fatty acids, and sterols. Insects excrete long-chain alcohols, alkyl acetates, aldehydes, and ketones that serve as intraspecific pheromones (Mahadevan and Ackman, 1984). 

Sargent, J.R. (1989) Ether-linked glycerides in marine animals, in Marine Biogenic Lipids, Fats, and Oils, Vol. I, ed. R.G. Ackman, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 175-197. 

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