[Effect of hydrogen peroxide on lipolysis and glucose metabolism in isolated rat adipocytes]

Rat fat cells show a high ability to eliminate H2O2, exogenously added or produced by the glucose/glucose oxidase system. The disappearance of H2O2 is a function of both time and the number of cells in the incubation medium. H2O2, like insulin, has been found to be antilipolytic even in the absence of glucose in the medium. Treatment of fat cells with ditio-(bis)-nitrobenzoic acid abolished this antilipolytic ability. H2O2 stimulated the hexose monophosphate shunt, and fatty acids and glicerides glycerol synthesis in rat fat cells. Flux through the hexose monophosphate shunt would then be a result of the demand for NADPH, for the fatty acids synthesis. These findings indicate that peroxidase can mimic the actions of insulin on glucose utilization and lipolysis.