Journal of Lipid Research, Vol. 2, 177-181, April 1961
Copyright © 1961 by Lipid Research, Inc.

Propionic acid as a precursor in the biosynthesis of animal fatty acids

E. J. Masoro and Edith Porter

Department of Physiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston 11, Massachusetts

The carboxyl carbon of propionate was found to be a poor precursor for the synthesis of fatty acids in the rat. The data indicate that propionate as a three-carbon unit is not incorporated into long-chain fatty acids by the intact rat to any appreciable extent. The results also suggest that the conversion of propionate to long-chain fatty acids in surviving adipose tissue occurs primarily by a mechanism involving the decarboxylation of the propionate. These data are consistent with the concept that the major pathway of lipogenesis in adipose tissue is not different from pathways described for the liver. A small fraction of the propionate is converted to long-chain fatty acids in adipose tissue in vitro by a mechanism that involves the use of propionate as an intact three-carbon unit, but in any case, its significance in the intact animal would appear to be negligible.

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