Lipolysis in Homogenates of Adipose Tissue: An Inhibitor Found in Fat from Obese Rats

The presence of a lipid-bound inhibitor in adipose tissue of rats with hypothalamic obesity may explain the failure of the tissue to release fatty acids on epinephrine stimulation. Aqueous extracts of tissue from obese animals showed no deficiency of lipase activity, but when whole homogenates of epididymal fat from lean and obese animals were mixed, 25 percent tissue from obese animals reduced by 73 percent the release expected from tissue of lean controls.