Rates of pinocytosis of different molecular-weight distributions of 125I-labelled poly(vinylpyrrolidone) by rat visceral yolk sacs and rat peritoneal macrophages were measured in vitro. Four preparations of mean molecular weights 50 000, 84 000, 700 000 and 7 000 000, were used. Macrophages captured the highest-molecular-weight preparation more rapidly than the other preparations. In contrast, rate of capture by the yolk sac decreased with increasing molecular weight. Incubations with a very-high-molecular-weight fraction derived from the 7 000 000-average-mol. wt. preparation clearly demonstrated that very large polymer molecules are not accumulated by the yolk sac, but are preferentially captured by macrophages. Analysis of the 125I-labelled poly(vinylpyrrolidone) internalized by the two cell types confirmed that low-molecular-weight material is preferred by the yolk sac, whereas the macrophage is less discriminating.
