Phosphoacylglycerols

Choline

Ethanolamine

Serine

Phosphatylcholine

Phosphatylcholine, structure of
molecule

Diagram of a section of
a bilayer membrane.

Space-filling model of a
section of phospholipid
bilayer membrane.

Lipid bilayer of plasma

membrane

Sphingosine
Sphingolipid

Sphingolipids in which the esterifying

group is phosphoric acid to which choline is
attached are called sphingornyelins.
Sphingomyelins are found in all cell
membranes and are important structural
components of the myelin sheath, the
protective and insulating coating that
surrounds
nerves
Sphingomyelins

Glycolipid

Cerebrosides, the simplest of such carbohydratecontaining lipids, usually have glucose or galactose
as the carbohydrate unit.
Gangliosides contain more complex carbohydrate
heads; up to seven monosaccharide units are present.

Cerebrosides

Gangliosides

Nonsaponifiable Lipids

Lipids do not undergo hydrolysis in alkaline solution.

Nonsaponifiable Lipids: steroids, eicosanoids, terpenes,

pheromones, fat-soluble vitamins

A steroid is a lipid whose structure is based on the tetracyclic

(four-ring) system shown in the following examples. Three of
the rings are six-membered, while the fourth is fivemembered. Steroids have many diverse roles throughout both
the plant and animal kingdoms.

Pentahydrofenantrene
(sterane)

Cholesterol is the most

abundant steroid in the
human body

Cholesterol, an unsaturated alcohol whose

structure is the most abundant animal steroid.
It has been estimated that a 60 kg person has
a total of about 175 g of cholesterol
distributed throughout the body. Much of this
cholesterol is bonded through ester links to
fatty acids, but some is found as the free
alcohol. Gallstones, for example, are nearly
purecholesterol.
Cholesterol serves two important functions in
the body. First, it is a minor component of cell
membranes, where it helps to keep the
membranes fluid. Second, it serves as the
bodys starting material for the synthesis of all
other steroids, including the sex hormones.

Bile acids

The liver secretes clear, golden-yellow, viscous fluid

known as bile. It is stored in the gall bladder (cistifellea)
and is mainly useful for digestive system.

Steroids hormones.

Hormones are chemical messengers produced by

ductless glands (endocrine).

Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Vitamins are divided into two broad classes on

the basis of their solubility:
Those that are fat soluble, and hence classified as
lipids.
Those that are water soluble.

The fat-soluble vitamins include A, D, E, and K.

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Vitamin A
Occurs only in the animal world.
Found in the plant world in the form of a provitamin in
a group of pigments called carotenes.

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Vitamin A

The best understood role of Vitamin A is its

participation in the visual cycle in rod cells.
the active molecule is retinal (vitamin A aldehyde),
which forms an imine with an -NH2 group of the protein
opsin to form the visual pigment called rhodopsin.
the primary chemical event of vision in rod cells is
absorption of light by rhodopsin followed by
isomerization of the 11-cis double bond to the 11-trans
configuration.

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Vitamin A and the Chemistry of Vision

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Vitamin D

A group of structurally related compounds that

play a role in the regulation of calcium and
phosphorus metabolism.
The most abundant form in the circulatory system is
vitamin D3.

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Vitamin E

Vitamin E is a group of compounds of similar

structure, the most active of which is tocopherol.

In the body, vitamin E functions as an antioxidant; it

traps peroxy radicals of the type HOO and ROO
formed as a result of oxidation by O2 of unsaturated
hydrocarbon chains in membrane phospholipids.

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Vitamin K

The name of this vitamin comes from the German

word Koagulation, signifying its important role in
the blood-clotting process.

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