Adipocyte adenylate cyclase and alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors in one case of multiple symmetric lipomatosis.

Adenylate cyclase activity and the number of alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors (studied by radioligand binding techniques) were compared to adipocyte membranes prepared from lipomatous and normal adjacent adipose tissue of a patient with multiple symmetric lipomatosis. No difference could be detected between the normal and lipomatous adipose biopsies. These data strongly suggest that the impairement of catecholamine-induced lipolysis often reported in lipomas is related to a defect in the enzymatic steps localized beyond rather than before cyclic AMP synthesis.