METABOLISM OF ISOLATED RAT RETINA. THE ROLE OF NON-ESTERIFIED FATTY ACID

1. Retina in vitro showed progressive uptake of non-esterified fatty acid, given in the form of complexes with bovine serum albumin. The rate of influx was related linearly to the concentration of non-esterified fatty acid in the incubation medium and was enhanced by glucose. 2. There was some exchange between medium and tissue non-esterified fatty acid, particularly in the early stages of incubation, and this probably corresponded to the rapid labelling of one component of the tissue non-esterified fatty acid pool. A much slower exchange with tissue non-esterified fatty acid was also evident, not reaching equilibrium even after 7(1/2) hr. incubation. Within the tissue, non-esterified fatty acid also found its way into the fat esters, and about 10% of the uptake was oxidized to carbon dioxide. 3. At high concentrations of non-esterified fatty acid in the medium, disproportionately more of the ingoing non-esterified fatty acid was found in the fat esters of the tissue, whereas the proportion in the tissue non-esterified fatty acid pool or oxidized to carbon dioxide did not change. 4. The role of non-esterified fatty acid as an energy-producing oxidizable substrate is discussed and the regulating influence of glucose on the metabolism of non-esterified fatty acid considered.