“Observations on Lipid Metabolism”

Abstract

Based on a Dissertation presented to the Society on 25th October, 1963.

Prior to 1936, it was the custom to regard adipose tissue of an accumulation of inert lipid material, possessing little or no metabolic activity, but, in that year, this viewpoint was challenged by the work of Schoenheimer and Rittenberg. On the basis of measurements of the rate of disappearance of labelled fatty acids from the body of the mouse, these workers concluded that the half-life of the total fatty acids in this animal, under the conditions of the experiment, was of the order of three days. Since the depots constitute by far the greatest part of the body fats, it was assumed that the turnover rate observed was that characteristic of the depot fat. The acceptance of these results necessitated the immediate rejection of the long cherished idea that adipose tissue represents an inert lipid store, capable of change only during periods of fasting or of excess ingestion of food.