Hepatocytes are functional liver cells. Lipid storage in these cells is organized in lipid droplets (LD). However, excessive accumulation of LD in hepatocytes is a sign of steatosis, which may be a feature of the disease called nonalcoholic fatty liver.

Turns out, that the catabolism of LD depends on the LD morphology. Lipolysis targets larger LDs to produce both size-reduced and freshly synthesized small LDs that are susceptible to lipophagic internalization.

Read more about how lipid droplet size directs lipolysis and lipophagy catabolism in hepatocytes in this paper: https://www.lipotype.com/lipidomics-resource-center/?q=lipophagy%20catabolism%20in%20hepatocytes

#lipophagy #lipids #lipidomics #MassSpectometry #lipidDroplets #hepatocyte #lipolysis #NAFLD