Autolysis of isolated adipocytes by endogenously produced fatty acids.

Isolated rat adipocytes, in which lipolysis was maximally stimulated by isoproterenol, continued to produce fatty acids in excess of the high-affinity binding capacity of the fatty acid acceptor bovine serum albumin in the incubation medium. At an average of 17 mol fatty acids/mol serum albumin, there was a burst of lactate dehydrogenase activity recovered in the incubation medium, indicating cell lysis. It is concluded that endogenously produced fatty acids will cause autolysis of adipocytes in vitro. Actively lipolysing adipocytes were more fragile than resting cells, since increasing amounts of lactate dehydrogenase activity was recovered in the medium during active lipolysis.