出版社：American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
摘要：The European badger has previously been shown to exhibit yearly cycles of locomotor activity, endocrine secretions, and body weight, as well as seasonal variations in plasma cholesterol. Over a period of 2 years, we have followed the plasma levels of free and esterified cholesterol, triglycerides and phospholipids, and of plasma lipoproteins (by means of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, agarose column chromatography and preparative and analytical ultracentrifugation). Some preliminary observations on the qualitative characteristics of the plasma apoproteins, obtained by application of electrophoretic techniques, are also described. Our results provide evidence for considerable synchronous and spontaneous variations of each of the plasma lipid components studied, all of them reaching a maximum in late autumn/early winter, then decreasing to a minimum in early spring. In some animals, the amplitude of observed variations was as large as 650% for total cholesterol, 420% for phospholipids and 180% for triglycerides. While the plasma concentration of very low density lipoproteins (d
