Some patients with hypertriglyceridemia and acute pancreatitis have marked hypocalcemia and high levels of plasma free fatty acids (FFAs). This study tests the hypothesis that increased plasma FFAs can significantly reduce the calcium level in vivo, a phenomenon which is different from local formation of calcium soaps due to lipolysis of adipose tissue lipids. Free fatty acid elevation was induced in rats by the administration of heparin and by the infusion of triglycerides. The results show that, compared with controls, induction of elevated FFA (from 1.57 +/- 0.08 mEq/L to 5.64 +/- 0.35, mean +/- SEM) causes the concentration of calcium to fall rapidly (from 9.04 +/- 0.06 mg/dl to 8.42 +/- 0.10, p less than 0.001). There is a significant (p less than 0.001) positive correlation between spontaneous baseline concentration of FFA and the responsiveness of calcium concentration to FFA challenge. At near-normal levels of FFA there is a significant (p less than 0.001) correlation between the magnitude of increased FFA concentration and decreased calcium concentration. Additional studies in vivo and in vitro show that elevated plasma triglycerides per se did not interfere with measurement of calcium concentration; however, FFA-albumin complexes bind calcium and lower its measured value. These findings suggest that (a) changes in the concentration of FFA occurring spontaneously may affect measured serum calcium concentration; (b) the observed depression of serum calcium concentration may be due in part to intravascular sequestration of calcium by FFA, but increased flux of circulating calcium-FFA complexes into extravascular and intracellular sites may also be important; (c) the markedly increased FFA concentration in some patients with acute pancreatitis may contribute significantly to hypocalcemia and calcium flux in these patients. As parathyroid hormone secretion, function, or integrity may be impaired in pancreatitis, the depressant effect of FFA could be even greater in that disease than in this model.