Biochemical aspects of lipid storage and utilization in animals

Abstract

The high energy content of lipids makes these compounds attractive to active metazoans as alight form of fuel storage. Animals have evolved complex systems of enzymes and transport proteins in order to utilize lipids for the generation of energy. While the enzymatic systems responsible for lipid synthesis and oxidation are probably similar in all metazoans, mechanisms for control of the rates of these processes differ with taxonomic group. The means by which lipids are transported through the body fluids of metazoans also show phylogenetic variation. Complete, quantitative data on the mechanisms and rates of lipid digestion, synthesis, transport and utilization are available for only a very few mammals, birds and insects. This would seem to be a very fertile field for comparative physiologists. © 1976 by the American Society of Zoologists.