Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Analysis of Fluorescent-Stained Lipid Droplets with 3D Reconstruction for Hepatic Steatosis Assessment
Published on: June 2, 2023
Differential pattern of lipid droplet-associated proteins and de novo perilipin expression in hepatocyte
Beate Katharina Straub1, Pamela Stoeffel, Hans Heid
1Department of General Pathology, Institute of Pathology, - Heidelberg, Germany. beate.straub@med.uni-heidelberg.de
Abstract:
Fatty change (steatosis) is the most frequent liver pathology in western countries and is caused by a broad range of disorders such as alcohol abuse and metabolic syndrome. The surface layer of lipid droplets (LDs) contains members of a protein family that share homologous sequences and domains, the so-called PAT proteins, named after their constituents, perilipin, adipophilin, and TIP47. We characterized the LD-associated proteins in normal and diseased liver connected with LD accumulation. Adipophilin and TIP47 are expressed in LDs of vitamin A-storing hepatic stellate cells and additionally in LDs of steatotic hepatocytes. Perilipin, which was thought to be characteristic for LDs of adipocytes and steroidogenic cells, becomes de novo expressed in hepatocytes of human steatotic liver. Perilipin splice variant A was found in human steatotic hepatocytes by biochemical, molecular biological, and immunohistochemical methods. Its association with LDs is different from TIP47 and adipophilin, and depends on size and localization of the LDs, suggesting that the different PAT proteins play specific roles during maturation of LDs.
Related Concept Videos
Asymmetric Lipid Bilayer
Phosphoinositides and PIPs
Different phosphoinositides are synthesized and recruited on the cytosolic face of the plasma membrane. The localization of specific phosphoinositides concentrated in separate membrane...
Assembly of the Lipid Bilayer in the ER
A large chunk of any biological membrane is composed of phospholipids. These lipids have a heterogeneous distribution across different subcellular organelles and even between...
Overview of Fatty Acid Metabolism
Fatty acids are catabolized in a process called beta-oxidation, which takes place in the matrix of the mitochondria and converts their fatty acid chains into two-carbon units of acetyl groups. The acetyl...
Lipids as Anchors
The carboxy-terminal of most of the prenylated proteins, such as Ras proteins, contains the...
Biosynthesis of Lipids
