Fat-deficiency disease of rats. The influence of tumour growth on the storage of fat and of polyunsaturated acids in the fat-starved rat

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Abstract
Walker tumors were implanted in 7 rats which had been maintained for 97 days on a fat-free diet and in 7 rats which had received for the same period daily doses of linseed oil in addition to the fat-free diet. Large tumors developed in all the fat-starved rats and in 5 of those which had received the linseed oil. In 2 rats receiving linseed oil, small nodules formed but failed to develop further. The 5 "linseed oil rats" in which tumors had developed showed a large diminution in the proportion of total lipid material in both skin and carcass when compared with the 2 rats in which the tumors had remained as small nodules. The proportion of lipid material was also much lower in the tumor-bearing fat-starved rats than in fat-starved rats in which no tumors had been implanted. A marked lowering of highly unsaturated acid in the subcutaneous tissue but not in the carcass fat accompanied the development of the tumors. There was no significant change in the proportion of this acid in the liver. The fat-starved rats had not reached the stage of complete cessation of growth so that any highly unsaturated acid available for normal growth could have been used for tumor development.