Differential effects of lipids on the osmotic fragility of lysosomes

Summary The effect of a wide range of concentrations of oleic acid, oleyl alcohol and oleic acid methyl ester on lysosomal stability has been studied under both hypotonic and isoosmotic medium conditions. Both oleic acid and oleyl alcohol exhibited a biphasic interaction pattern with lysosomes; stabilizing at low concentrations and labilizing at high concentrations. Lysosome labilization by the ester required an initial lag period.Acknowledgment. We should like to thank Mr.David Ginzburg for the assistance he gave us during the 3 months he spent at our department as a summer student.