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| Fatty acids are an essential part of the human body, they make up part of all cell membranes and are a vital energy source. A fatty acid is made up o two functional chemical regions, one being the hydrophilic carboxylic acid head that covalentlylinks to other fatty acids. The second is a long chain of hydrocarbons which are hydrophobic and chemically unreactive. The chain is either saturated and contains no double carbon-carbon bonds and the maximum number of hydrogen atoms (palmitic acid) or unaturated and contain double bonds (oleic acid.)
| | See [[Fatty_acid|fatty acid]] |
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| Fatty acids in the form of triacylglycerol are stored in the cytoplasm of some cells, this consists of three fatty acid chains linked to a molecule of glycerol. When usedfor energy in the body the ftty acid chains are released and form two carbon units and enter the same metabolism as glucose.
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| Fatty acids are a common type of lipid, insoluble in water but soluble in fat. The fatty acid chains form phospholipids in cell membranes, with two fatty acids attached to glycerol and the third attached to a phosphate group. Phospholipids consist of a hydrohobic tail (fatty acid chains) and a hydrophilic head (phosphate.) making them amphiphilic. This structural propertis enable the lipids to form a lipid bilayer, the basis of a cell membrane.
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| '''<u>REFERENCES</u>'''
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| Alberts, Molecular Biology of the Cell, fifth addition, pg 58-59
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Latest revision as of 18:13, 22 November 2011