Acetate Metabolism: Effect of the Route of Tracer Dosage

¹ From the Department of Biochemistry, University of Oregon Medical School, Portland, Oregon

Specially prepared adult rats were given tracer amounts of acetate-1-C¹⁴ intravenously or intraperitoneally. C¹⁴ incorporation into CO₂ was followed on a time course basis and incorporation of the label into the fatty acid and cholesterol fractions of liver, gut, carcass and skin was determined. The dosage route was shown to affect the subsequent distribution of the label in the tissue lipids. Direct utilization of the acetate-1-C¹⁴ by tissues of the peritoneal space is considered to explain the high radioactivity of such tissues after i.p. dosage.