Selective mobilization of fatty acids from adipose tissue triacylglycerols

Abstract

Adipose tissue triacylglycerols represent the main storage of a wide spectrum of fatty acids differing by molecular structure. The release of individual fatty acids from adipose tissue is selective according to carbon chain length and unsaturation degree in vitro and in vivo in animal studies and also in humans. The mechanism of selective fatty acid mobilization from white fat cells is not known. Lipolysis is widely reported to work at a lipid–water interface where only small amounts of substrate are available. A preferential hydrolysis of a small triacylglycerol fraction enriched in certain triacylglycerol molecular species at the lipid–water interface and enzymological properties of hormone-sensitive lipase could explain the selective mobilization of fatty acids from fat cells. This selectivity could affect the individual fatty acid supply to tissues.