Fatty-acid composition of lecithin fraction of mucus in cystic fibrosis [letter].

We have studied seven patients with C.F. and ten normal children and 
have confirmed the low levels of E.F.A. both in plasma and 
in red-cell membrane in the C.F. group. We would like to 
report here preliminary results on the fatty-acid pattern of the lecithin 
fraction of bronchial mucus in the same group of patients and 
controls. Content of palmitic acid was lower and that of oleic 
acid was higher in the C.F. patients than in normal children. 
This abnormality in the fatty-acid composition of the lecithin of the 
mucus could be an important finding in relation to the respiratory 
symptoms in C.F. Some experimental work supports this hypothesis. 