THE TRANSPORT OF PHOSPHOLIPIDS FROM THE YOLK TO THE YOLK-SAC MEMBRANE DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHICK EMBRYO

Abstract

A study was made of the concentrations and fatty acid compositions of the various phospholipid fractions in the yolks and yolk-sac membranes at different stages in the development of the chick embryo. Phosphatidyl choline was the major component of both the yolk and membrane phospholipids. The composition of the yolk phospholipids was broadly similar to that of the membrane phospholipids. In both the yolk and membrane phospholipids, the proportions of phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl ethanolamine tended to decrease, whereas the proportions of phosphatidyl serine, sphingomyelin, and lysophosphatidyl choline tended to increase as incubation proceeded. The fatty acid composition of the yolk phosphatidyl choline did not change during incubation, but there was a progressive decrease in the palmitic acid: stearic acid ratio in the membrane phosphatidyl choline. The changes in the fatty acid composition of the yolk phosphatidyl ethanolamine indicated that there was a preferential absorption from the yolk of phosphatidyl ethanolamine with stearic acid in the α position and arachidonic or docosahexaenoic acids in the β position. The lysophosphatidyl choline in the yolk and membrane evidently consisted of mixtures of the 1-acyl and 2-acyl isomers. There was no evidence that extensive breakdown and resynthesis of phospholipids occurred during the transport of lipids from the yolk to the yolk-sac membrane.