FACILITATED DISSOCIATION OF ALBUMIN-FATTY ACID COMPLEXES BY RAT HEPATOCYTES

Experiments were conducted comparing palmitate clearance by hepatocyte monolayers, polyethylene and that predicted by the diffusion-reaction model. The objective was to learn whether the albumin-dependent enhan cement of unbound palmitate clearance was wholly attributable to codif fusion of bound and unbound fatty acid across an unstirred fluid layer , or whether the uptake flux was also contributed by facilitated disso ciation of albumin-fatty acid complexes at the cell surface. We use a model-independent formulation of the facilitation phenomenon to explor e this question at low concentrations of albumin. The central finding that facilitation occurs takes into consideration albumin-dependent ch anges in solution viscosity, endogenous albumin secretion and the adso rption of albumin to the polyethylene surface.