Energy Production: Lipids Flashcards
Describe what a fatty acid is.
An aliphatic chain with a carboxylic acid group at one end
Describe the structure of a triacylglycerol
Glycerol with 3 fatty acid chains
How are fatty acids metabolised in the liver?
Ketone bodies are produced
What are the 3 main fuel molecules derived from lipids?
Fatty acids
Triacylglycerols
Ketone bodies
What are the lipid soluble vitamins and where are they stored?
A, D, E and K
Stored in the liver
Why are tryacylglycerols such an efficient form of energy storage?
Stored in anhydrous form, so dont take up as much space as carbs
Large amounts of ATP produced upon oxidation
Where is triacylglycerol metabolised?
GI tract, extracellularly
How is fatty acyl-CoA transported across the mitochondrial membrane?
Via the carnitine shuttle transporter
How is the carnitine shuttle transporter regulated?
Stimulated by AMP, Insulin
Inhibited by malonyl-CoA
where does beta-oxidation occur?
In most tissues and WBC, but not in brain or RBC
Where are ketone bodies produced?
Liver constantly generates ketone bodies from acetyl CoA
Production is much higher during fasting
Production inhibited by insulin
How is ketone body production controlled in the liver?
Low NAD+ substrate availability and NADH product inhibition halts the action of isocitrate dehydrogenase and alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, causing acetyl-CoA to be used to produce ketone bodies instead of the TCA cycle
