Control of hepatic glyceride synthesis.

Role of the liver in glyceride metabolism In mammals, there are three major forms of circulating lipid or lipid-related fuel, free fatty acid (FFA), triglyceride (TG) and ketone bodies. The liver utilizes FFA, and releases T G and ketone bodies. Constituents of the pool of carbohydrate plus amino acids can undergo net conversion to acetyl residues and then to fatty acids (FA) (FA synthesis ‘de novo’) whereas the reverse process cannot occur. FA from all sources may be degraded, or incorporated into T G and other glycerides, for internal consumption or export. Aspects of hepatic lipid metabolism may alter in a variety of physiological and pathological states (e.g. diabetes and other endocrine disorders, vascular disease, nephrosis, shock, malnutrition, catabolic disease, obesity, inborn errors, liver disease). Despite the likelihood that such changes are of crucial pathogenetic significance, very little is known about the mechanisms underlying them, or indeed about the control of hepatic glyceride metabolism in normal animals.