Sarcolemmal fatty acid transfer in isolated cardiomyocytes governed by albumin/membrane-lipid partition

The mechanism of transfer of long chain fatty acids across the myocardial sarcolemmal membrane was investigated in isolated, calcium-resistant, rat cardiomyocytes. The initial rate of 14C-palmitate uptake was determined at constant and increasing palmitate/albumin ratios. The latter condition led to a saturable dependence of uptake rate on palmitate concentration. At a constant palmitate/albumin ratio however, there was an almost constant rate of uptake even though the absolute concentration of palmitate increased. The enhanced metabolic rate resulting from electrically induced contractions of the myocytes decreased the apparent Km of uptake from 62 to 23 microM. Thirty seconds after administration, there was no further increase in the [14C]palmitate content of the myocytes. Moreover, from experiments using ghost membrane vesicles the concentration of palmitate in membranes increased almost linearly with increasing palmitate/albumin ratios. This concentration remained virtually constant if vesicles were pre-treated with diamide. Our results do not support the concept of an albumin receptor-mediated uptake but rather suggest that fatty acids are incorporated into cardiomyocytes by a simple diffusion process which is not rate-limiting. The rate of uptake is influenced both by the metabolic rate and by the concentration of fatty acids in the membranes. The rate-limiting step of fatty acid uptake is probably either the formation of acyl-CoA catalyzed by the membrane associated acyl-CoA synthetase, or the transfer of fatty acid carnitine esters across the mitochondrial matrix membrane.