fatty acid

(noun)

Fatty acids can be saturated or unsaturated and are usually derived from triglycerides or phospholipids.

Related Terms

Examples of fatty acid in the following topics:

  • Lipids: Sources, Uses in the Body, and Dietary Requirements

    • Humans and other mammals require fatty acids such as linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid) and alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid), because they cannot be synthesized from simple precursors in the diet.
    • Both omega-6 and omega-3 are 18-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acids that differ in the number and position of their double bonds.
    • Fish oils are especially rich in the longer-chain omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) .
    • Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an omega-3 fatty acid.
    • DHA concentrations in breast milk range from 0.07-1.0% of total fatty acids and are influenced by the amount of fatty fish in the mother's diet.

  • Chemical Digestion of Carbohydrates, Proteins, Lipids, and Nucleic Acids

    • These enzymes break down food proteins into polypeptides, which are then broken down by various exopeptidases and dipeptidases into amino acids.
    • The presence of fat in the small intestine produces hormones that stimulate the release of pancreatic lipase from the pancreas, and bile from the liver, enabling the breakdown of fats into fatty acids.
    • Complete digestion of one molecule of fat (a triglyceride) results in three fatty acid molecules and one glycerol molecule.
    • Lipid digestion involves the formation of micelles in the presence of bile salts, and the passage of micelles and fatty acids through the unstirred layer.

  • Eicosanoids

    • In biochemistry, eicosanoids (preferred IUPAC name: icosanoids) are signaling molecules made by oxidation of 20 carbon essential fatty acids, EFAs.
    • Two families of enzymes catalyze fatty acid oxygenation to produce the eicosanoids:
    • They derive from the fatty acids that make up the cell and nuclear membranes.
    • Pathways in biosynthesis of eicosanoids from arachidonic acid: there are parallel paths from EPA & DGLA.

  • Functions of the Lymphatic System

    • The lymphatic system plays a prominent role in immune function, fatty acid absorption, and removal of interstitial fluid from tissues.
    • Besides immune system function, the lymphatic system has many functions of its own: (1) It is responsible for the removal of interstitial fluid from tissues and its filtration, (2) it absorbs and transports fatty acids and fats as chyle from the digestive system, and (3) the lymph transports many of the cells involved in immune system function.
    • The lymphatic system also facilitates fatty acid absorption from the digestive system.
    • During fat digestion, many fatty acids are digested, emulsified, and converted within intestinal cells into a lipoprotein called chylomicrons.

  • Bacterial Flora

    • For example, undigested polysaccharides (fiber) are metabolized to short-chain fatty acids by bacteria in the large intestine and then absorbed by passive diffusion.
    • The bicarbonate that the large intestine secretes helps to neutralize the increased acidity resulting from the formation of these fatty acids.

  • Digestive Processes of the Small Intestine

    • Proteins are degraded into small peptides and amino acids before absorption.
    • Carboxypeptidase, a pancreatic brush border enzyme, splits one amino acid at a time.
    • Aminopeptidase and dipeptidase free the end amino acid products.
    • Lipids (fats) are degraded into fatty acids and glycerol.
    • Pancreatic lipase breaks down triglycerides into free fatty acids and monoglycerides.

  • Absorption and Feces Formation in the Large Intestine

    • Undigested polysaccharides (fiber) are metabolized to short-chain fatty acids by bacteria in the large intestine and absorbed by passive diffusion.
    • The bicarbonate that the large intestine secretes helps to neutralize the increased acidity from the formation of fatty acids.

  • Absorptive State

    • This main product of fat digestion is first broken down to fatty acids and glycerol through hydrolysis using lipoprotein lipase.
    • The liver deaminates amino acids to keto acids to be used in the Kreb's cycle in order to generate energy in the form of ATP.

  • Absorption of Monosaccharides, Amino Acids, Dipeptides, Tripeptides, Lipids, Electrolytes, Vitamins, and Water

    • Proteins are degraded into small peptides and amino acids before absorption.
    • Carboxypeptidase, which is a pancreatic brush border enzyme, splits one amino acid at a time.
    • Aminopeptidase and dipeptidase free the end amino acid products.
    • Lipids (fats) are degraded into fatty acids and glycerol.
    • Pancreatic lipase breaks down triglycerides into free fatty acids and monoglycerides.

  • Mechanisms of Chemical Digestion

    • ., polysaccharides, proteins, fats, nucleic acids) to smaller ones (i.e., monosaccharides, amino acids, fatty acids, nucleotides) .
    • The endopeptidases cleave the polypeptide at the interior peptide bonds, while the exopeptidases cleave the terminal amino acid.
    • Exopeptidases are further subclassified into aminopeptidases - which cleave off the terminal amino acid at the amine end of the chain, and carboxypeptidases which cleave off the terminal amino acid at the carboxyl end of the chain.
    • Stomach pepsin cleaves interior bonds of the amino acids, and is particularly important for its ability to digest collagen.
    • Fats are digested by lipases which hydrolyze the glycerol-fatty acid bonds.