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Lipids are a class of relatively water-insoluble organic molecules, which are the "basic" components of biological membranes. There are three forms of lipids: phospholipids , steroids , and triglycerides .
[3] [4] Lipids have applications in the cosmetic and food industries, and in nanotechnology. [ 5 ] Lipids may be broadly defined as hydrophobic or amphiphilic small molecules; the amphiphilic nature of some lipids allows them to form structures such as vesicles , multilamellar/ unilamellar liposomes , or membranes in an aqueous environment.
Membrane lipids are a group of compounds (structurally similar to fats and oils) which form the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane. The three major classes of membrane lipids are phospholipids, glycolipids, and cholesterol. Lipids are amphiphilic: they have one end that is soluble in water ('polar') and an ending that is soluble in fat ...
Lipidology is the scientific study of lipids. Lipids are a group of biological macromolecules that have a multitude of functions in the body. [1] [2] [3] Clinical studies on lipid metabolism in the body have led to developments in therapeutic lipidology for disorders such as cardiovascular disease. [4]
There are two major classes of membrane lipids: glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids. Although many different membrane lipids are synthesized in our body, pathways share the same pattern. The first step is synthesizing the backbone (sphingosine or glycerol), the second step is the addition of fatty acids to the backbone to make phosphatidic acid.
For lipids present in biological membranes, the hydrophilic head is from one of three classes: Glycolipids , whose heads contain an oligosaccharide with 1-15 saccharide residues. Phospholipids , whose heads contain a positively charged group that is linked to the tail by a negatively charged phosphate group.
Phospholipids [1] are a class of lipids whose molecule has a hydrophilic "head" containing a phosphate group and two hydrophobic "tails" derived from fatty acids, joined by an alcohol residue (usually a glycerol molecule). Marine phospholipids typically have omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA integrated as part of the phospholipid molecule. [2]
This hydrophobic core is surrounded by a hydrophilic membrane consisting of phospholipids, free cholesterol, and apolipoproteins. Plasma lipoproteins, found in blood plasma, are typically divided into five main classes based on size, lipid composition, and apolipoprotein content: HDL, LDL, IDL, VLDL and chylomicrons. [4]