Fatty acid synthesis from glucose-1-H³ and glucose-1-C¹⁴ in obese-hyperglycemic mice

¹ Medical Research Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, Long Island, New York

One or two hours after intraperitoneal injection of trace amounts of glucose-1-H³ and glucose-1-C¹⁴ obese-hyperglycemic mice of the Bar Harbor strain converted five to ten times as much of both radioisotopes to total fatty acids of the liver and two to four times as much to total fatty acids of the remaining carcass as their lean siblings. The obese mice generally oxidized glucose-1-C¹⁴ to C¹⁴O₂ and glucose-1-H³ to H³OH at rates equal to those of the lean mice. At 2 hr, 40–45% of the glucose-C¹⁴ had been converted to C¹⁴O₂ and 75–80% of the glucose-1-H³ to H³OH. The maximum conversion of tritium to liver fatty acids was about .4% of the dose at 1 hr and of C¹⁴ about .25% of the dose at 1 hr, while for the carcass fatty acids the highest conversion were at 2 hr with about 2.0% of the dose of glucose-1-H³ and 1.8% of the dose of glucose-1-C¹⁴.

Key Words: lipids, biosynthesis of • fatty acids, biosynthesis of • obesity tritium, metabolic studies with • C¹⁴, metabolic studies with triphosphopyridine nucleotides, metabolism of • carbon dioxide-C¹⁴, formation of from C¹⁴-labeled glucose • water, tritium in body, formation of from H³-labeled glucose

Submitted on September 25, 1963