![]() ![]() However, the cell cannot change the fatty acids as long as they are inside the fat molecule. In the long term, this results for instance in the formation of oleic acid, a component of high-quality olive oil, from palmitate, such as that contained in palm fat. "Overall, in this way the cells produce fatty acids that are more beneficial to the organism than those that we had originally supplied with the nutrient solution," Thiele emphasizes. The fatty acids that are formed in this process are called unsaturated. Over time, this sometimes developed into double bonds - as if revelers at a party were doing a conga. In the original fatty acids, the carbon atoms were moreover linked with single bonds - roughly like a human chain in which neighbors join hands. They were also gradually chemically modified, for example by additional carbon atoms being inserted. In contrast, the 16- and 18-atom fatty acids remained in the cell, although not in their original fat molecules. "Therefore, they are disposed of quickly." "Such shorter fatty acids are poorly usable by cells and can even damage them," says Thiele, who is also a member of the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2. After two days, they were no longer detectable. After a short time, however, they were split off again and channeled out of the cell. This showed that the fatty acids consisting of eleven carbon atoms were initially incorporated into triglycerides. Labeling allowed the researchers to track exactly what happens to the fatty acids of different lengths in the cell. Short fatty acids are eliminated, long ones "improved" "These chain lengths are typically found in food as well," Thiele explains. One of them was eleven, the second 16 and the third 18 carbon atoms long. In their study, the researchers produced three different fatty acids and labeled them. ![]() Their length can be very different: Some consist of only ten carbon atoms, others of 16 or even more. "It's possible that in the course of this process, the fats are converted to what the body needs." Poorly utilizable fatty acids would consequently be refined into higher-quality variants and stored in this form until they are needed.įatty acids consist largely of carbon atoms, which hang one behind the other like the carriages of a train. "Our results now point to a completely different explanation," Thiele explains. Or perhaps it is simply a way for the body to generate heat. "We were able to show that these triglycerides do not remain unchanged, but are continuously degraded and remodeled: Each fatty acid is split off about twice a day and reattached to another fat molecule," the researcher explains.īut why is that? After all, this conversion costs energy, which is released as waste heat - what does the cell get out of it? Until now, it was thought that the cell needed this process to balance energy storage and supply. The mouse cells then incorporated the labeled molecules into triglycerides. His research group labeled various fatty acids in this way and added them in a nutrient medium to mouse fat cells. "However, we have developed a method that allows us to attach a special label to fatty acids, making them unmistakable," says Thiele. Keeping track of individual fatty acids is therefore extremely difficult. Yet there are thousands of different forms of triglycerides in each cell. The problem: To prove that triglycerides are broken down, and fatty acids modified and reincorporated into new molecules, one would need to track their transformation as they travel through the body.
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