Fatty acid pattern of cerebral lipids in cyanide encephalopathy

From the analysis of the fatty acid spectrum of the individual lipid fractions of the cerebral white matter in cyanide induced encephalopathy would appear that essentially the phosphatidyl ethanolamine and plasmalogen fractions showed appreciable deviations from the control spectra. The observed changes in the cholesteryl ester composition did not correlate with the macrophage reaction, which is known to appear as late as 14 days after HCN intoxication when morphological signs of demyelination become apparent. Neither was there a correlation between the alterations of the phosphatide fatty acid composition and that of cholesteryl esters. It thus would appear that esterification of cholesterol in the myelin of rats occurring during early stages following cyanide intoxication constitutes one of the primary factors injuring the myelin sheath. The same conclusion seems to be applicable to the changes in fatty acid composition of the white matter phospholipids.