The Oxidation of Fatty Acids Combined with Albumin by Isolated Rat Liver Mitochondria

From the ¹ From the First Medical Service, Sahlgrenska Sjukhuset, University of Göteborg, Göteborg, Sweden

Long chain fatty acids at concentrations inhibiting mitochondrial respiration were, in the presence of serum albumin, found to produce almost as high a rate of oxygen uptake as -ketoglutarate, succinate, or acetate. This oxidation was characterized in terms of its coupling to phosphorylation, need for cofactors, and production of different metabolites during the reactions.

Fatty acids were oxidized to carbon dioxide, acetoacetate, ß-hydroxybutyrate, and other water-soluble metabolites, tentatively identified as intermediates of the citric acid cycle.

An agent to spark the citric acid cycle and adenosine tri- or monophosphate were necessary for optimal oxidation rate, as described for other fatty acid oxidation systems.

Balance experiments with different amounts of malate were performed with incubations lasting as long as oxygen uptake took place. In the presence of 1 µmole of malate, practically all added palmitic acid was used up and found to be converted primarily to carbon dioxide, acetoacetate, and other water-soluble metabolites of which the major part was tentatively identified as succinate. A significant portion was found in mitochondrial phospholipids. With 10 µmoles of malate some palmitic acid remained in the system, while a comparatively small amount was converted to carbon dioxide, and a major part was found as succinate. Here also incorporation into phospholipids occurred. With no malate added, fatty acid oxidation was much smaller than with malate, although significant conversion to carbon dioxide took place. Only a little succinate and phospholipid were found.

Oxygen uptake was greater than a theoretical value calculated from radioactive balance experiments. It was concluded that albumin contains oxidizable material even after extraction and dialysis. Albumin at high concentrations inhibited both fatty acid and -ketoglutarate oxidation.

The oxidation of long chain fatty acids in high concentrations in the form of albumin-fatty acid complex was coupled to phosphorylation. Thus P:O ratios above 2 were found as well as evidence for respiratory control.

It was concluded that oxidation of long chain fatty acids by isolated mitochondria occurs from their albumin complex. This process can also be studied at high concentrations of fatty acids, where high rates of oxygen uptake are obtained from oxidation which is coupled to phosphorylation.

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