The oxidation of lecithin and other fatty substances in the presence of glutathione

THE theory has frequently been advanced that the liver is intimately connected with oxidative processes involving the metabolism of fat in the body. The well- known desaturation theory, according to which a desaturation of fatty acids occurs in the liver giving a more oxidisable form of fat which is then passed on to the tissues, has been linked particularly with the work of Leathes and Meyer- Wedell [1909] and of Hartley [1909]. The validity of the desaturation theory and of the findings on which it rests have been questioned by Aylward et al.