CE(16:0), also known as cholesteryl palmitic acid, is a cholesteryl ester. A cholesteryl ester is an ester of cholesterol. Fatty acid esters of cholesterol constitute about two-thirds of the cholesterol in the plasma. Cholesterol is a sterol (a combination of steroid and alcohol) and a lipid found in the cell membranes of all body tissues and transported in the blood plasma of all animals. The accumulation of cholesterol esters in the arterial intima (the innermost layer of an artery, in direct contact with the flowing blood) is a characteristic feature of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a disease affecting arterial blood vessels. It is a chronic inflammatory response in the walls of arteries, in large part to the deposition of lipoproteins (plasma proteins that carry cholesterol and triglycerides). CE(16:0) may also accumulate in hereditary hypercholesterolemia, an inborn error of metabolism. Cholesteryl palmitate is one of the four important lipids found in the tear film. Amniotic fluid cholesteryl palmitate, as measured by thin-layer chromatography, appears to be a very sensitive and specific predictor for the risk of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in newborns of normal pregnancies.