The 14C-labelled fatty acids were purchased from Perkin Elmer
NEN® (Perkin Elmer, Cambridge, UK) at a specific activity of 50–
55 mCi mmol−1
. Complexes of the labelled fatty acids with fatty
acid free-bovine serum albumin (FAF-BSA) in Hanks' Balanced Salt
Solution (HBSS) were prepared as described previously (Ghioni
et al., 1999). To label the cells, they were cultured in the standard
culture medium, harvested and resuspended in the same medium