Arterio-venous differences across human adipose tissue for mono-, di- and triacylglycerols before and after a high-fat meal

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not partial acylglycerols, resulting from triacylglycerol hydrolysis, accumulate during the process of fat deposition in vivo. We measured mono-, di- and triacylglycerol levels in arterialized and adipose tissue venous plasma in normal subjects before and after a test meal. The mean concentrations of partial acylglycerols were consistently low in all plasma samples, accounting for less than 2% of the total acylglycerol measurement. The absence of monoacylglycerol accumulation in the adipose tissue venous plasma samples indicates that the disposal of monoacylglycerol by the adipose tissue was not rate limiting for complete hydrolysis of triacylglycerol in vivo. After heparin was injected intravenously 300 min after the high-fat meal, the mean concentration of monoacylglycerol in arterialized plasma increased from 1.6 ± 0.6 μmol/l to 106 ± 19 μmol/l (P = 0.01), whereas the mean concentration of diacylglycerol did not change (13.0 ± 2.3 μmol/l before, 17.4 ± 4.2 μmol/l after)