[Effects of estrogen on fatty acid composition in rat uterine lipids (author's transl)]

Estrogen effects on fatty acid (FA) composition in rat uterine lipids after ovariectomy were investigated. FAs in uterine lipids increased after estrogen injection. Estrogen enhanced the level of FA in phosphatidylethanolamine. The moieties of palmitic, palmitoleic, oleic and linoleic acids increased transiently more than twofold, 6 hours after estrogen administration and stearic and arachidonic acids increased to about two-fold 48 hours after this injection. Each FA measured increased 1.7 to 2.4 fold in phosphatidylcholine and total lipid, 48 hours after estrogen injection. Therefore, estrogen increases the production of phospholipids and has a considerable influence on the pattern of FA content in phosphatidylethanolamine. Membrane conformation in uterine cells is thus affected.