Glycerol Kinase Activities in Rat Heart and Adipose Tissue

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Abstract
Observed changes in the rate of glycerol release from heart and adipose tissue were explained by changes in the rate of lipolysis, or glycerol kinase activity, or both. Precautions were taken to measure maximum glycerol kinase activities, but, in the absence of detailed knowledge of the properties of the muscle or adipose-tissue enzymes, such maximal activities must remain provisional. If starvation produced inhibition of glycerolkinase activity in heart and adipose tissue, this could account for 81% and 15% of the observed increase in glycerol release by the perfused heart and incubated fat pad respectively. The increased utilization of endogenous fatty acids by the perfused heart from a starved animal could be explained equally well by a decrease in the activity of glycerol kinase as by an increase in the activity of a lipase. The increased rate of release of fatty acids from adipose tissue from starved animals could not be explained completely by a decrease in the activity of glycerol kinase; other factors that produce smaller changes in the rate of glycerol release might be explained by effects on this enzyme.