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Lipids are a broad group of organic compounds which include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids include storing energy, signaling, and acting as structural components of cell membranes.
The surface of a curved lipid bilayer. Lipidology is the scientific study of lipids. Lipids are a group of biological macromolecules that have a multitude of functions in the body. [1] [2] [3] Clinical studies on lipid metabolism in the body have led to developments in therapeutic lipidology for disorders such as cardiovascular disease. [4]
[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).
Vertebrates (including humans) use both sources of fat to produce energy for organs such as the heart to function. [6] Since lipids are hydrophobic molecules, they need to be solubilized before their metabolism can begin. Lipid metabolism often begins with hydrolysis, [7] which occurs with the help of various enzymes in the digestive system. [2]
Common lipid signaling molecules: lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) platelet activating factor (PAF) anandamide or arachidonoyl ethanolamine (AEA). Lipid signaling, broadly defined, refers to any biological cell signaling event involving a lipid messenger that binds a protein target, such as a receptor, kinase or phosphatase, which in turn mediate the effects of these ...
Membrane lipids are a group of compounds (structurally similar to fats and oils) which form the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane. The three major classes of membrane lipids are phospholipids, glycolipids, and cholesterol. Lipids are amphiphilic: they have one end that is soluble in water ('polar') and an ending that is soluble in fat ...
Examples of various lipid species. Lipidomics is the large-scale study of pathways and networks of cellular lipids in biological systems. [1] [2] [3] The word "lipidome" is used to describe the complete lipid profile within a cell, tissue, organism, or ecosystem and is a subset of the "metabolome" which also includes other major classes of biological molecules (such as amino acids, sugars ...
Osmium tetroxide binds to lipids, consequently staining and fixing them, making the lipids then visible during electron scanning. [5] In the staining of plasma membrane like structures, such as spherosomes, osmium tetroxide binds to the phospholipid regions, thus creating a contrast with the surrounding cytoplasm making it easy to identify the ...