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[2] [3] The most familiar type of animal sterol is cholesterol, which is vital to the structure of the cell membrane, and functions as a precursor to fat-soluble vitamins and steroid hormones. While technically alcohols, sterols are classified by biochemists as lipids ( fats in the broader sense of the term).
Although the term "lipid" is sometimes used as a synonym for fats, fats are a subgroup of lipids called triglycerides. Lipids also encompass molecules such as fatty acids and their derivatives (including tri-, di-, monoglycerides, and phospholipids), as well as other sterol -containing metabolites such as cholesterol . [ 6 ]
A lipoprotein is a biochemical assembly whose primary function is to transport hydrophobic lipid (also known as fat) molecules in water, as in blood plasma or other extracellular fluids. They consist of a triglyceride and cholesterol center, surrounded by a phospholipid outer shell, with the hydrophilic portions oriented outward toward the ...
In biochemistry, lipogenesis is the conversion of fatty acids and glycerol into fats, or a metabolic process through which acetyl-CoA is converted to triglyceride for storage in fat. [1] Lipogenesis encompasses both fatty acid and triglyceride synthesis , with the latter being the process by which fatty acids are esterified to glycerol before ...
A young adult human's fat stores average between about 15–20 kg (33–44 lb), but varies greatly depending on age, sex, and individual disposition. [10] In contrast, the human body stores only about 400 g (0.9 lb) of glycogen , of which 300 g (0.7 lb) is locked inside the skeletal muscles and is unavailable to the body as a whole.
In most cases, the monomers within the chain have a strong propensity to interact with other amino acids or nucleotides. In DNA and RNA, this can take the form of Watson–Crick base pairs (G–C and A–T or A–U), although many more complicated interactions can and do occur.
The second step in lipid metabolism is absorption of fats. Short chain fatty acids can be absorbed in the stomach, while most absorption of fats occurs only in the small intestines. Once the triglycerides are broken down into individual fatty acids and glycerols, along with cholesterol, they will aggregate into structures called micelles. Fatty ...
Cholesterol is the principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in animal fats and oils. [3] [4]Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells [citation needed] and is an essential structural and signaling component of animal cell membranes.