Action of Plasma and of Plasma Albumin on Palmitate-1-C 14 Oxidation by Blood Cells. ∗

Abstract

Summary

Washed blood cells from normal, fasting adult rats were incubated with palmitate-1-C¹⁴ in the presence of increasing dilutions of homologous blood plasma, or in the presence of various concentrations of bovine plasma albumin. It has been observed that (a) blood plasma, even when diluted several hundred times, has an inhibitory action on palmitate oxidation by washed blood cells; (b) plasma albumin is one of the substances contributing to this inhibitory action of blood plasma; (c) under certain experimental conditions involving very high dilutions of blood plasma, its action is stimulatory rather than inhibitory. The data from several consecutive periods of incubation were used for construction of skewed bell-shaped curves of instantaneous C¹⁴O₂ evolution; they are steep and high in the absence of plasma albumin, but flatten out in its presence. The results are discussed in relation to the action of plasma albumin on cell metabolism and to interactions between fatty acids, plasma albumin, and red blood cells.