Fig. 1

Fatty acid uptake, synthesis, and metabolism pathways. Overview of the extracellular sources of fatty acids, including chylomicrons, VLDL and LDL lipoproteins, albumin-bound free fatty acids, and macropinocytosis, and the intracellular pathways that contribute to the intracellular fatty acid pool. Intracellular sources of fatty acids include de novo fatty acid synthesis from non-lipid substrates, lipid droplet lipolysis and lipophagy, fatty acyl-CoA, and phospholipid hydrolysis. Fatty acids are converted to fatty acyl-CoAs that are substrates for a range of reactions including elongation and desaturation, glycerolipid, glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid synthesis, protein acylation, and oxidation in peroxisomes and mitochondria. ACOT acyl-CoA thioesterases, ACLY ATP citrate lyase, ACSL long-chain acyl-CoA synthase, ACSS cytoplasmic acetyl-CoA synthetase, CD36 cluster of differentiation 36, CE cholesteryl ester, DGAT diacylglycerol acyltransferase, ELOVL elongation of very long-chain fatty acid enzymes, ETC electron transport chain, FABP fatty acid binding protein, FA-CoA fatty acyl-CoA, FA fatty acid, FADS fatty acid desaturases, FATP fatty acid transport protein, GLUT glucose transporter, LDLr low-density lipoprotein receptor, LPL lipoprotein lipase, LPR1 low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1, MCT monocarboxylate transporter, PC phosphatidylcholine, PE phosphatidylethanolamine, PS phosphatidylserine, SCD stearoyl-CoA desaturase, SL sphingolipid, TG triacylglycerols, VLCFA-CoA very-long chain fatty acyl-CoA, VLDLr very low-density lipoprotein receptor