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Abstract
The fatty acid composition of the human retinal vasculature has been determined. The principal constituents were palmitate, stearate, oleate, and arachidonate. Retinal vessel preparations were found to differ in composition from the retina as a whole in that they contained proportionately less stearate and very little docosahexaenoate. Although marked alterations in the morphology of retinal blood vessels are known to occur with advancing age and diabetes, these changes were not found to be accompanied by major alterations in the relative abundance of the principal fatty acids of vessel preparations.