Fatty acid synthesis in rat adipose tissue. Tracer concentration effects in vitro.

1. The use of labelled acetate for studying the synthesis of long-chain fatty acids in rat adipose tissue in vitro has been examined, with special reference to the effect of acetate concentration. 2. The incorporation of acetate into fatty acids is proportional to the concentration of acetate in the medium when the latter does not exceed about 10mum. Above this concentration, the relative incorporation becomes progressively less, and reasons for this are discussed. 3. In particular it is shown that this is not necessarily due to disturbance of the endogenous rate of fatty acid synthesis by a relatively large amount of acetyl-CoA derived from added acetate. 4. However, to ensure that the added acetate does not cause such a disturbance its concentration must be kept sufficiently low. For labelled acetate used under present conditions, this concentration should not be more than about 10mum.