Importance of the cyclic AMP concentration for the rate of lipolysis in human adipose tissue.

1. The activation of lipolysis on incubation of human subcutaneous adipose tissue was examined in terms of the relationship between the release of glycerol and the concentration of tissue cyclic AMP. 2. A strong positive correlation was obtained between the maximum concentration of cyclic AMP and the rate of glycerol release in the presence of noradrenaline (r = 0.9), whereas, in the basal state, these two parameters were only weakly correlated (r = 0.45). 3. It appears that the noradrenaline-induced rate of lipolysis depends upon the maximal concentration of cyclic AMP that is present in human adipose tissue.