| Abstract: | Although unsaturated fatty acids have long been known to accompany saturated fatty acids in most lipids, qualitative and quantitative determination of fatty acid patterns only became possible with the advent of modern analytical methods. Present day knowledge of the chemical structure, physical properties, and metabolism of unsaturated fatty acids provides the basis for the development of new concepts of their function. Thus unsaturated fatty acids crucially determine the properties of biological membranes. Moreover, essential fatty acids are precursors of prostaglandins. |
