Role of cardiac lymph and interstitial fluid in lipid metabolism of canine heart

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Abstract
To determine whether cardiac interstitial spaces participate in cardiac fatty acid pool, the relationship between cardiac lymph and arterial plasma free palmitate and triglycerides was studied in anesthetized dogs. [14C]Sucrose, infused at a constant rate in a femoral vein, appeared in the lymph at 90% of its arterial concentration within 60 min. On the other hand, when [1-14C]palmitate was infused at the same rate and at the same site, the ratio of lymph to arterial plasma 14C-labelled free fatty acids (FFA) was only 21% at 60 min and 25% at 120 min, even though the concentrations of endogenous FFA in lymph and arterial plasma were the same. The ratio reached 90% only 24 h after a bolus injection of [3H]palmitate. [1-14C]Palmitate in the lymph triglyceride fraction was only 8% of that in plasma. Although the lymph composition may be influenced by the metabolism of heart muscle, cardiac adipose tissue, and serum lipoproteins, these results indicate the presence of a pool of myocardial fatty acids which may be partly located in the interstitial spaces.