Cholesterol ester
Cholesterol esters are chemical compounds between cholesterol and various fatty acids ; they belong to the ester group and are intermediate products and reserve substances in the metabolism of vertebrates . This makes them part of the human diet. Cholesterol esters are used in the pharmaceutical industry as a component of artificial vesicles . The most common fatty acids esterified in natural cholesterol esters are palmitic acid , oleic acid and linolenic acid .
physiology
70 percent of the cholesterol transported in the human blood in lipoproteins is present as cholesterol ester (total plasma lipid content: 36 percent), so the liver can break it down more easily. The cholesterol esters in the plasma are formed in the body by the enzyme lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT). The synthesis takes place on HDL particles and is part of the reverse cholesterol transport , in which HDL particles take up excess cholesterol stored in cells and transport it to the liver. There they are broken down by the hormone-sensitive lipase . Cholesterol esters ingested with food are broken down into their components in the intestine with the help of the bile salt-activated lipase .
Cholesterol esters, which accumulate within cells as an insoluble storage form of cholesterol, are synthesized by the sterol-O-acyltransferase . Large amounts of this form of storage in macrophages and smooth muscles are the first signs of arteriosclerosis .
further reading
- Guido Majno, Isabelle Joris: Cells, tissues, and disease: principles of general pathology. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press US, 2004, ISBN 0-19-514090-7 , pp. 92ff.
Individual evidence
- ↑ US patent with cholesterol palmitate
- ↑ Robert K. Murray, Daryl K. Granner, Harold Anthony Harper, Peter A. Mayes, Victor W. Rodwell (Eds.): Harper's illustrated biochemistry. 26th ed. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003. ISBN 0-07-138901-6 , p. 205.
