Net release of individual fatty acids from white adipose tissue during lipolysis in vitro: evidence for selective fatty acid re-uptake

During lipolysis, adipose tissue triacylglycerols (TAG) undergo concurrent breakdown and synthesis because some of the newly hydrolysed and released non-esterified (‘free’) fatty acids (NEFA) can subsequently be taken up and re-esterified. The present study examines whether and how the release of individual fatty acids is affected by the re-uptake of some of the newly hydrolysed fatty acids in vitro during lipolysis. To alter fatty acid release and re-uptake, adipose tissue fragments and isolated adipocytes from rats were incubated under various conditions, i.e. several cell concentrations or adipose fragment quantities, with or without glucose. In the various conditions tested, the NEFA/glycerol molar ratio ranged from 1.5 to 2.9. Whatever the incubation conditions, including those resulting in very low, medium or high fatty acid re-uptake (as assessed by the NEFA/glycerol ratio), the percentage weight of fatty acids in NEFA was significantly different from that in TAG for 20-24 of the 35 fatty acids that were considered. Thus the greater the fatty acid re-uptake, the higher the proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids and the lower the proportion of long-chain saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids in NEFA. Moreover, the relative mobilization (%NEFA/%TAG) of the least readily mobilized fatty acid (C22:1,n-11) was 6.2-fold lower than that of the most readily mobilized fatty acid (C20:5,n-3) under conditions of very low fatty acid re-uptake, and 14.8-fold lower under conditions of high fatty acid re-uptake, indicating a widening of the range of relative mobilizations. We conclude that the composition of the NEFA pool is affected by the rate of fatty acid re-uptake. This provides strong evidence for the selective re-uptake of adipose tissue fatty acids during lipolysis.