Increased Fatty Acid Synthesis of Arterial Tissue in Hypoxia

• Published in: European journal of biochemistry Vol. 20; no. 4; pp. 587 - 592
• Main Authors: Filipovic, Ivan, Buddecke, Eckhart
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 29.06.1971
• Subjects: Acetates - metabolism; Adenine Nucleotides; Adenosine Triphosphate; Animals; Arteries - metabolism; Carbon Dioxide; Carbon Isotopes; Cattle; Chromatography, Gas; Coenzyme A; Fatty Acids - biosynthesis; Hypoxia - metabolism; In Vitro Techniques; NAD; Nitrogen; Nucleotides; Oxygen; Pyridines
• ISSN: 0014-2956; 1432-1033
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1971.tb01431.x

1 Calf arterial tissue incorporated [1‐14C]acetate into fatty acids of triglycerides when incubated under a gas phase of either 95% O2/5% CO2 or 95% N2/5%CO2, but in hypoxia the specific radioactivity of fatty acids was 3–5 times higher. 2 Gas liquid chromatography of the C8–C18:2 fatty acid methylesters and analysis of the amount of radioactivity present in the carboxyl carbon of the fatty acids were consistent with the assumption of a chain elongation mechanism of preformed acyl units which is active mainly with shorter chain (C8–C12 carbon) fatty acids and appeared to be the predominant synthetic system in the presence and in the absence of oxygen. 3 Compared to incubation experiments under a gas phase of O2/CO2, the rate of chain elongation rises markedly in hypoxia, resulting in a 37‐fold increase of the specific radioactivity of lauric acid and a 3 to 11‐fold increase of the specific radioactivity of the other fatty acids investigated. 4 In hypoxic arterial tissue minor changes in the amount and in the specific radioactivity of acetyl‐CoA were observed, while the NADH/NAD ratio rose to high levels.