Abstract
WE have found an accumulation of cholesterol within the oxygen-filled swimbladders of some deep sea benthic fishes, which suggests that certain steps in cholesterol biosynthesis and/or degradation are affected by hyperbaric oxygen. The lipid content of these swimbladders included as much as 49 % (dry wt basis) of cholesterol. The lipid included major amounts of unsaturated fatty acids which resist auto-oxidative processes within the swimbladder which contains oxygen at pressures up to 380 atmospheres.
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PHLEGER, C., BENSON, A. Cholesterol and Hyperbaric Oxygen in Swimbladders of Deep Sea Fishes. Nature 230, 122 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/230122a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/230122a0
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