Familial LECITHIN-cholesterol acyltransferase deficiency is an uncommon autosomal recessive disorder from a heritable defect in esterification of plasma cholesterol. In 1968, the disease was described by Gjone and Norum in Norway. Our case was a 38-year-old woman. Her disease was manifested by presence of lower extremities edema, proteinuria, corneal opacities, increased plasma cholesterol, and hemolytic anemia. Suspicion of the disease was based on renal biopsy, which revealed mesangial expansion and capillary wall widening with clusters of foamy cells in the mesangium. Immunofluorescence study was nonspecific, but specific findings of electron microscopy showed deposition of lipid in the glomerular basement membrane and mesangium. This is the first report of LECITHIN-cholesterol acyltransferase deficiency in Iran. The diagnosis was confirmed by a low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, decreased activity of LECITHIN-cholesterol acyltransferase in plasma, and positive familial history of the disease.

In LECITHIN production unit of Jahan Vegetable Oil Co. (JVOC), Karaj, Iran, studies are made for the LECITHIN produced by hexane extracted soybean oil, with the standard specification (except for hexane-insoluble (HI) materials), which is above 0.3% in crude LECITHIN. HI materials in LECITHIN are detrimental to clarity as it can cause haziness in fluid LECITHIN and usability in specific application. Analyses of crude oil before and after filtration indicated that filter plates do not effect lyre move of the impurities of residual fines, seed fragments and metal particles. Crude oil has more HI materials during degumming than before degumming. Analyses of oil and LECITHIN during processing steps showed increase in HI and toluene-insoluble (TI) materials where ever water was added. Degumming water contained about 360-1330 ppm salt (T.S), which contributed to the HI mateials. About 30- 38% of HI are salt and the rest are water-soluble most probably sugar. Salt free water and efficient filtration of oil, as tested in laboratory degumming process, decreased the HI matters in LECITHIN to below 0.3%.

In this study, a colorimetric method for the determination of serum LECITHIN is examined using LPL, phospholipase C and glycerol dehydrogenase. The results showed that serum LECITHIN concentration in the obstructive jaundice patients was increased compared to that in the control group [185.47±16.12 (mean ±SD, no=57) vs. 112.38±9.27 (mean ±SD). No.=39, P<0.05] mg/100 ml. The increase of serum LECITHIN in the patients with obstructive jaundice is a good indicator of liver disease, especially obstructive jaundice. Our results showed that measurement of LECITHIN is considered to be one of the most specific and sensitive methods for the detection of obstructive jaundice.

Partial phase diagrams were constructed at 25°C to investigate the phase behaviour of systems composed of soybean LECITHIN, water, sodium salicylate, alcohol and isopropyl myristate. The LECITHINs used were the commercially available soy bean LECITHINs, namely E200 and E170 (phosphatidyl choline purities greater than 95% and 68-72% respectively). The cosurfactants employed were n-propanol, 2-propanol and n-butanol and these were used at LECITHIN/alcohol weight ratios (Km) of 1:1 and 1.5:1. At a given Km, the aqueous phase consisted of a 2% w/w sodium salicylate solution. Phase diagrams showed the area of existence of a stable isotropic region along the surfactant/oil axis (i.e., reverse microemulsion area). The extension of the microemulsion domain was influenced by the purity of surfactant, the LECITHIN/alcohol weight ratios and the kind of the alcohol.

Background & Objective: Hypercholesterolemia is a risk factor for atherosclerosis that responded variably to dietary modification of fat and cholesterol. Previous studies in humans have shown that ingestion of LECITHIN can alter plasma cholesterol and triglyceride but results were different. The current study was designed to investigate the hypocholesterolemic properties of LECITHIN on patient with hypercholesterolemia.Materials & Methods: Sixty one subjects (27 Male, 34 Female) with mean ages 44±14 years old with hypercholesterolemia, was admitted to Mottahari Health Center(Shiraz), randomly assigned to the case (n=31) and control (n=30) groups. Case group received three LECITHIN capsules (1200 mg) which contain 420 mg Phosphatidylecoline, daily for six weeks. Subject's weight, Body Mass Index (BMI) and serum lipid concentration were measured at the beginning and the end of six weeks. Results: No significant difference were found in mean weight in case group when compared to control group. Also no significant difference were found in mean BMI in case group when compared to control group. Significantly lower mean serum Total Cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride and significantly higher HDL cholesterol were found in case group. In addition mean serum total cholesterol (P<0.05), LDL cholesterol (P<0.05) and TG (P<0.05) decreased and mean serum HDL-Cholesterol (P<0.05) increases significantly in case group vs. control group.Conclusion: This study showed that LECITHIN could be considered as effective nutrient useful in dietary treatment of hypercholesterolemia.

Background and Objectives: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are one of the major causes of death. High blood cholesterol increases CVD risk. Consumption of high-cholesterol foods increases blood cholesterol. Therefore, limiting consumption of such foods, or reducing their cholesterol content, will lead to a reduction of CVD risk. Different methods have been presented for cholesterol reduction in foods. The objective of this study was to reduce the cholesterol content of butter oil by using soybean LECITHIN.Materials and Methods: Twenty ml distilled water and different amounts of LECITHIN (5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, 17.5 and 20%) were added to 100g melted butter oil, and the resulting mixtures were stirred. The hydrated LECITHIN thus obtained was then removed by centrifuge. In addition to the LECITHIN concentration, effects of stirring speed (200, 400,600,800 and 1000 rpm), stirring time (15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 minutes), centrifuging speed (2000, 2200, 2400, 2600 and 2800 rpm), and centrifuging time (5, 10, 15,20 and 25 min) on the magnitude of cholesterol reduction were studied. Chemical (acid, peroxide, and saponification values) and physical (refractive index and melting point) characteristics of the low- cholesterol butter oil were compared with those of untreated butter oil.Results: Increasing the LECITHIN concentration up to 17.5% and stirring time up to 75 minutes led to a' higher cholesterol reduction. However, longer stirring time decreased significantly the magnitude of cholesterol reduction (p<0.05). The data showed a linear relationship between the magnitude of cholesterol reduction on the one hand and the stirring speed and centrifuging speed and time on the other. As regards the chemical and physical characteristics, only the acid value of the low cholesterol butter oil was higher than that of the untreated butter oil. Other characteristics of the 2 butter oils were not significantly different.Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, the optimum conditions for cholesterol reduction of butter oil are a LECITHIN concentration of 10%, a stirring speed of 600 rpm, a stirring time of 45 min, a centrifuging speed of 2400 rpm, and a centrifuging time of 15 minutes. Under these conditions, the cholesterol content of butter oil can be reduced by 78.6%.

Sodium salicylate containing microemulsions have been formulated, based on the previous phase diagram studies, using a pharmaceutically acceptable surfactant and oil. The effects of formulation variables on the release profile of the drug from microemulsion through intact rat skin were also determined experimentally. In this investigation, two commercially available LECITHINs (namely Epikuron 200 and Epikuron 170), three short chain alcohols (n-butanol, isopropanol and n-propanol) and isopropyl myristate (IPM) were used as surfactant, cosurfactant and oil, respectively. The water phase was composed of sodium salicylate solution (2% w/v). To investigate the release profile, samples with 25% wt% total surfactant content were prepared with different surfactant/cosurfactant weight ratios (Km of 1:1 and 1.5:1) and various amounts of drug solution (from 7 to 35 wt%), depending on the nature of alcohol. Two compartment Franz diffusion cells, equipped with rat skin as the absorption membrane, were employed for release studies. All experiments were performed at room temperature and sampling was taken over 12 hours with one-hour intervals. The amount of drug released was determined spectrophotometrically and the permeation parameters were then calculated. Results showed that systems formulated with 7 and 9% drug solution, were not capable of releasing the drug with a lower rate, compared to the corresponding drug solutions, while in other systems, a lower release rate was observed in comparison to the control samples. In general, among the systems investigated, those prepared with n-propanol at Km of 1.5:1 and 11-20 wt% and 29% dispersed phase showed a relatively lower absorption rate, comparing to the corresponding control samples , regardless of the nature of surfactant and cosurfactant. Under passive conditions, the flux from microemulsions followed the zero order behavior with respect to the donor concentration.