On the interpretation of studies measuring uptake and esterification of [1-14C]palmitic acid by rat adipose tissue in vitro

• 1.

  1.The effects of glucose and a number of hormones on the incorporation of [1-¹⁴C]palmitic acid from the medium into glycerides in rat epididymal fat pads have been reported. The data from such studies should not, however, be used to draw conclusions about tha rate of triglyceride synthesis in this tissue.

• 2.

  2. It has been demonstrated that the free fatty acids in different cell fractions and in different parts of a single fat pad have different specific radioactivities after incubation of the intact fat pad in the presence of [1-¹⁴C]palmitate, suggesting that there are kinetically distinguishable pools of free fatty acids within the tissue.

• 3.

  3. Evidence is presented to support the view that free fatty acids from the medium can, as such, enter adipose tissue cells, and it suggested that there is a pool of free fatty acids, perphaps very small, within the tissue which serves as the precursor pool for glyceride synthesis.