Effect of prolonged glucose infusion on total serum fatty acids and free fatty acids in the rat.

This investigation evaluates the effect of prolonged glucose infusion on triglycerides and the composition in total serum fatty acids and free fatty acids in the rat. Glucose infusion over a period of 4 days leads to the following changes: serum triglyceride concentrations are two to three times elevated and serum insulin levels rise 10 times after 12 hours, followed by a steady decrease. Chain elongation is depressed in serum free fatty acids and even more in total serum fatty acids. In serum free fatty acids monodesaturation is unaltered whereas it is highly stimulated in total serum fatty acids. These alterations correlate with the changes of hepatic total fatty acids and do not correlate with changes of fatty acids from epididymal fat pads. The alterations reflect a specific carbohydrate-induced effect on hepatic fatty acid desaturation and chain elongation. They do not support the idea that serum free fatty acids are mainly secreted from the storage pool of adipose tissue; yet, they may have been newly synthesized in fat cells or even in the liver.