Thursday, 17th March 2022
Lipogenesis:
Lipids are made up of two components, glycerol and fatty acids, which each
need to be synthesised in order to assemble a lipid molecule.
The synthesis of lipids is lipogenesis and occurs in the adipose tissue and liver.
Excess carbohydrates are stored as fat.
Excess amino acids are converted to pyruvate which is converted to
phosphoglyceraldehyde which is converted to glycerol which binds with three
fatty acids.
Excess fats in the diet are stored in the adipose tissue.
Fats pack densely and are much more energy dense than glucose and amino
acids.
In a 70kg person, on average the body has around 15kg of adipose fats
which will yield 140 000kcal versus only around 2000kcal of stored glycogen.
Glycerol Synthesis:
The process uses excess glucose to form glycerol.
1. Glucose is converted to glucose-6- 4. This is then converted to
phosphate. glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.
2. Glucose-6-phosphate is converted 5. Triokinase converts this to
to fructose-6-phosphate. glyceraldehyde using ATP.
3. Fructose-6-phosphate is converted 6. Alcohol dehydrogenase converts
to fructose-1,6-phosphate. this to glycerol using NADH
(converted to NAD+).
Fatty Acid Synthesis:
Lipid Metabolism 1