Oxidation of Palmitic Acid-1-C¹⁴ by Tissues of Carbohydrate and Fat Diet-Adapted Rats

¹ From the Departments of Pharmacology and Biochemistry, State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, New York

Groups of adult male rats were adapted to isocaloric high fat and high carbohydrate diets for 4–6 weeks. Liver slices and segments of diaphragm were incubated in a medium to which an emulsion containing palmitic acid-1-C¹⁴ had been added. Respiratory CO₂ was collected, precipitated as BaCO₃, and the specific activity estimated. Liver slices of fat diet-adapted rats oxidized more of the added palmitic acid than did those of carbohydrate-fed controls. Diaphragms of the former group also oxidized more added palmitic acid but abstracted less glucose from the medium than did those of the latter.

Note:
with the technical assistance of Janet M. DeWitt