The relative contribution of lipoproteins and free fatty acid to the cellular triacylglycerol content of cultured human fibroblasts was tested. Fibroblasts accumulated triacylglycerol in proportion to the molar ratio of free fatty acid (oleic acid) to albumin in the medium. Fibroblasts also accumulated triacylglycerol when exposed to medium containing human very low density liproprotein. This accumulation of triacylglycerol was apparently due to direct uptake of intact very low density lipoprotein particles initiated by binding of very low density lipoprotein to cell surface receptors. The amount of 125I-labeled very low density lipoprotein protein internalized and degraded by the cell saturated at the same very low density lipoprotein concentration that produced the maximum increase in cell triacylglycerol. Preincubations with lipoprotein-deficient serum, which enhanced the cell's ability to bind 125I-labeled very low density lipoprotein, increased the amount of 125I-labeled very low density lipoprotein internalized and degraded by the cell in parallel with increased levels of cellular triacylglycerol. Results suggest that the triacylglycerol that accumulates in the presence of very low density lipoprotein represents a lysosomal pool of partially degraded very low density lipoprotein. Measurements of lipase activity of fibroblast homogenates revealed three pH optima at (in descending order of magnitude of activity) pH 4, pH 6, and pH 8. The pH 8 lipase does not appear to represent lipoprotein lipase, since it is not activated by either serum or heparin. Exposure of the cells to medium with varying lipid composition had no effect on the lipase activities. The lipase activities of fibroblasts from donors with familial hypertriglyceridemia appear to be normal.