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A triglyceride (from tri-and glyceride; also TG, triacylglycerol, TAG, or triacylglyceride) is an ester derived from glycerol and three fatty acids. [1] Triglycerides are the main constituents of body fat in humans and other vertebrates as well as vegetable fat . [ 2 ]
The adipocyte, or fat cell, is designed for continuous synthesis and breakdown of triglycerides in animals, with breakdown controlled mainly by the activation of hormone-sensitive enzyme lipase. [65] Migratory birds that must fly long distances without eating use triglycerides to fuel their flights. [2]: 619
Almost all natural fatty acids, therefore, have even numbers of carbon atoms. When synthesis is complete the free fatty acids are nearly always combined with glycerol (three fatty acids to one glycerol molecule) to form triglycerides, the main storage form of fatty acids, and thus
Chylomicron structure ApoA, ApoB, ApoC, ApoE (apolipoproteins); T (triacylglycerol); C (cholesterol); green (phospholipids). Chylomicrons transport lipids absorbed from the intestine to adipose, cardiac, and skeletal muscle tissue, where their triglyceride components are hydrolyzed by the activity of the lipoprotein lipase, allowing the released free fatty acids to be absorbed by the tissues.
English: Hydrolysis reaction of triglyceride molecule (left) to produce glycerol (in blue) and three fatty acids (right). The hydrolyzed ester bonds are shown in red. The hydrolyzed ester bonds are shown in red.
Glycerol has three hydroxyl functional groups, which can be esterified with one, two, or three fatty acids to form mono-, di-, and triglycerides. [2] These structures vary in their fatty acid alkyl groups as they can contain different carbon numbers, different degrees of unsaturation, and different configurations and positions of olefins.
A medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) is a triglyceride with two or three fatty acids having an aliphatic tail of 6–12 carbon atoms, i.e. a medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA). Rich food sources for commercial extraction of MCTs include palm kernel oil and coconut oil .
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 28 February 2025. Esters of fatty acid or triglycerides This article is about the type of nutrient in food. For fat in animals, see Adipose tissue. For chemistry of fats, see triglyceride. For other uses, see Fat (disambiguation). Idealized representation of a molecule of a typical triglyceride, the main ...