title: Relative contribution of the main tissues and organs to body fatty acid synthesis in the rat.
abstract: Tritiated water was used to measure the rate of fatty acid synthesis in the main tissues and organs of 7-week old Wistar male rats in order to determine the relative contribution of each tissue to body fatty acid synthesis. We reached the following conclusions: (a) the liver is the main site of fatty acid synthesis, it alone synthesizes 42% of the newly synthesized fatty acids in the body. (b) The dissectable white adipose tissues synthesize 27% of the fatty acids in the body. This group of tissues is heterogeneous because the mesenteric adipose tissue alone contains 40% of the labeled fatty acids present in the white adipose tissues. (c) Besides the intestines, organs other than the liver play a negligible role (2% of the total) in fatty acid synthesis. (d) The skin contributes 7% of the body fatty acid synthesis. (e) The rest of the carcass, essentially composed of the musculature and the skeleton, contributes 18% of body fatty acid synthesis and accounts for 33% of the extrahepatic tissue fatty acid synthesis.
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids