Metabolic and tissue effects of prolonged catecholamine infusion.

In recent years it has become clear that the free fatty acids of the plasma represent the major form of transport for lipid mobilized from the stored triglyceride in peripheral adipose tissue. There is evidence that lipid mobilization is increased after trauma, burns and shock with depletion of the peripheral lipid stores and an increase in the circulating free fatty acids. In this study lipid mobilization was induced in unanaesthetized dogs by continuous noradrenaline infusion at a rate of 1 μg/kg/min. A marked rise of the free fatty acids occurred and was associated with triglyceride deposition in tissues not normally the site of lipid storage. This change affected principally the liver, but to a lesser degree other organs including the lungs. The possible significance of this lipid mobilization in the human setting is discussed.