FATTY ACID TRANSPORT IN THORACIC DUCT, HEPATIC AND INTESTINAL LYMPH DURING FASTING AND AFTER FEEDING GLUCOSE

¹ University Laboratory of Physiology and the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford
² University Laboratory of Physiology and the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford; Medical Research Council

Analyses of thoracic duct lymph in the rat during fasting and after glucose feeding have shown the presence of esterified fatty acids additional to those which are contributed to the lymph by plasma lipoprotein lipid. The excess may amount to an output in thoracic duct lymph of 50 mg. esterified fatty acid a day. In the dog, analyses of hepatic and intestinal lymph during fasting have shown that excess esterified fatty acid is present in intestinal, but not hepatic, lymph.

Calculations based on these findings do not support the view that the lymnphatics are a major route for the mobilization of fatty acid during fasting.