Saturated fatty acids with different chain length as ketogenic substrates in the rat liver

Production of ketone bodies, activation of oxygen uptake and production of [14C] carbon dioxide due to fatty acids of various chain lengths were measured in the isolated perfused rat liver. As ketogenic substrates, the fatty acids investigated can be ordered in the following sequence: strate < palmitate < laureate < decanoate < miristate < octanoate. For activation of oxygen consumptor, the same sequence is observed. A good linear correlation between the increase in oxygen uptake (deltaO2) and production of ketone bodies was found, with a mean deltaO2 of 0.66 mol per mol ketone bodies. This is a relatively low value when confronted with the known stoichiometry of ß-oxidation, and may be an indication of complexities in the metabolism of exogenously added fatty acids in the perfused liver

Binding of the anti-inflammatory drug niflumic acid to bovine serum albumin

Binding of the anti-inflammatory drug niflumic acid to serum albumin was measured by equilibrium dialysis and the dissociation constants were determined. The maximal binding capacity was 36 mol niflumic acid per mol albumin. Most of the binding sites were of low affinity, only six having dissociation constants below 1 mM. At the plsma concentrations most frequently used in eperimental work, the high affinity sites account for more than 99% of the albumin-bound influmic acid