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Determining The Existence And Regulation Of Microlipophagy In Primary Brown And White Adipocytes, Sara C. Arenas De Leon

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Lipids are one of life’s four main macromolecules and provide essential functions to cells, as they serve as building blocks of cellular membranes, mediate cell signaling, and are a critical energy source. Within cells, esterified fatty acids aggregate into lipid droplets in the form of triglycerides, consisting of a neutral lipid core surrounded by a phospholipid monolayer decorated with various proteins.

The degradation of lipid droplets and mobilization of lipids occurs through lipolysis, a process that hydrolyzes a molecule of triglyceride into a glycerol and three fatty acids. Emerging evidence demonstrates the involvement of a selective form of autophagy in …