Catabolism of low-density lipoprotein by fibroblasts cultured in medium supplemented with saturated or unsaturated free fatty acids.

The increase in the degree of unsaturation of phospholipid fatty acids that occurred when fibroblasts were grown in medium supplemented with linoleic acid was associated with an increase in the degradation of LDL by both receptor-mediated and receptor-independent pathways. There was not a corresponding increase in the number of surface receptors for LDL.