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Updated: Jun 1, 2026

Isolation of Cellular Lipid Droplets: Two Purification Techniques Starting from Yeast Cells and Human Placentas
Published on: April 1, 2014
Fat caves: caveolae, lipid trafficking and lipid metabolism in adipocytes
1Department of Biochemistry Boston University School of Medicine, 72 East Concord St., Boston, MA 02118, USA. ppilch@bu.edu
Abstract:
Caveolae are subdomains of the eukaryotic cell surface, so named because they resemble little caves, being small omega-shaped invaginations of the plasma membrane into the cytosol. They are present in many cell types, and are especially abundant in adipocytes, in which they have been implicated as playing a role in lipid metabolism. Thus, mice and humans lacking caveolae have small adipocytes and exhibit lipodystrophies along with other physiological abnormalities. In this review, we examine the evidence supporting the role of caveolae in adipocyte lipid metabolism in the context of the protein and lipid composition of these structures.
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