

Usually used for ingested food, adipogenesis, the process of TG synthesis, is mainly performed in the liver. The chemical name of TGs is triacylglycerol (TAG), also known as fat, which is the main lipid storage carrier and consists of one glycerol molecule and three fatty acids. There are three types of lipids: triglycerides (TGs), steroids, and phospholipids.
#Autophagy flaticon free
Under stress conditions such as hunger and hypoxia, nutrient depletion requires the mobilization of free fatty acids to supply energy, which connects the functions of lipid metabolism, and autophagy. As one of the most important sources of nutrition, lipids provide energy and essential fatty acids for the human body. Lipid metabolism is a complex metabolic process that includes digestion, absorption, synthesis, catabolism and peroxidation. Lipophagy: a novel type of lipid catabolism Then, we introduce a variety of metabolic disorders in which lipophagy may be involved, including fatty liver disease, and the role of lipophagy in cancer progression. In this review, we mainly introduce some regulatory effects and functions of lipophagy, including regulating intracellular lipid storage to maintain energy supply under emergency conditions and promoting potential lipotoxic molecular metabolism. Since then, many new functions of autophagic lipid metabolism have been gradually discovered. This discovery gave scientists a new perspective and understanding of how lipid metabolism regulates cellular physiology and pathology. In 2009, it was discovered that macroautophagy can selectively degrade lipids in hepatocytes the authors then coined the term “lipophagy” to describe the process. Storing an appropriate amount of lipids to perform cellular functions when needed is essential to cell survival.

Intracellular lipids are an indispensable source of energy for cells, the structural components of membranes, are synthesized to produce other types of molecules (e.g., hormones), and participate in cell signal transduction. Autophagy is divided into three subtypes (macroautophagy (herein referred to as autophagy), chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA), and microautophagy), which can be nonselective or selective and include the selective removal of damaged mitochondria by mitophagy and the selective removal of endoplasmic reticulum components by phagocytosis. As one of the two evolutionarily conserved cell degradation pathways (autophagic degradation and proteasomal degradation), autophagy maintains a dynamic intracellular balance and can be activated by a variety of different stresses. These studies have stimulated increasing interest in the role of lipophagy in the pathogenesis and treatment of cancer and other human diseases.Īutophagy has been intensely studied since its discovery. Like autophagy, the role of lipophagy in cancer is poorly understood, although analysis of specific autophagy receptors has helped to expand the diversity of chemotherapeutic targets. Impaired lipophagy can cause cells to become sensitive to death stimuli and may be responsible for the onset of a variety of diseases, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome. However, it remains unclear how intracellular lipids regulate autophagy.

It participates in the regulation of intracellular lipid storage, intracellular free lipid levels (e.g., fatty acids), and energy balance. Although much remains unknown, lipophagy appears to play a significant role in many organisms, cell types, metabolic states, and diseases. Lipophagy is defined as the autophagic degradation of intracellular lipid droplets (LDs). Lipophagy, a form of selective autophagy and a novel type of lipid metabolism, has recently received much attention. Autophagy is a conserved method of quality control in which cytoplasmic contents are degraded via lysosomes.
