Analysis of the Intercellular and Membrane Lipids of Wool and Other Animal Fibers

We report our analysis of the sterol and fatty acid composition of wools from different breeds of sheep and from different climatic zones. The results are compared with analyses of other protein fibers. Cholesterol, desmosterol, palmitic, stearic and oleic acids account for the majority of the internal lipids in animal fibers, with the exception of human hair and fibers of the camel family. We conclude that sterol and fatty acid analyses can be a useful additional procedure to the conventional methods for distin guishing between animal fibers.