Effect of chain length on rates of uptake of free fatty acids during in vitro incubations of rat adipose tissue.

The incorporation into triglycerides of l-14Clabeled saturated free fatty acids (FFA) of different chain lengths (CrC,,) was studied using incubation of rat epididymal fat pads in vitro. The results indicate that the rate at which adipose tissue incorporates FFA is dependent on chain length. With very short-chain acids a small amount is directly esterified into triglycerides, but the major portion is elongated and esterified. Analyses by means of Factice chromatography showed that acids with a chain length of 10 or longer were esterified without elongation.