Effect of nucleic acid metabolites on lipolysis in adipose tissue.

It has been observed that nucleic acids, nucleotides, and nucleosides inhibit the lipolytic action of epinephrine on adipose tissue, whereas purine and pyrimidine bases increase it (1). Further studies, described in the present report, have shown this interaction to be quite specific for lipolysis (uptake and esterification of fatty acids being unaffected), but not limited to epinephrine (other lipolytic hormones are also inhibited by ribonucleic acid). The chemical nature of this interaction remains undefined, although a number of possibilities can be excluded. Perhaps, fundamental to an understanding of the phenomenon is the distinction (2) between esterification of fatty acids taken up from the medium (not affected by ribonucleic acid) and net re-esterification of acids in the lipolytic pool (increased by ribonucleic acid),