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Coursera

Lipid Metabolism

via Coursera

Overview

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Lipid metabolism governs how the body stores, breaks down, and builds fats, membrane lipids, and hormone precursors, and this course covers each of those processes. You'll examine fat breakdown and synthesis, the beta oxidation of fatty acids and the energy it yields, the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, and how new fatty acids – including those longer than 16 carbons – are synthesized. The course then turns to membrane lipids, covering the synthesis of glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids, before closing with steroid and bile acid metabolism: the mevalonate pathway, receptor-mediated endocytosis of LDL cholesterol, the classes of steroid hormones, and the structure and function of bile acids. Throughout, the course connects these pathways to clinically relevant outcomes, from energy metabolism to cholesterol handling.

Syllabus

  • Fatty Acid Metabolism: Breakdown and Synthesis
    • This module contrasts fatty acid catabolism through beta-oxidation with the anabolic pathway of fatty acid synthesis, including how unsaturated and long-chain fatty acids are produced.
  • Steroids and Bile Acids
    • This module traces cholesterol from its de novo synthesis through its transport by lipoproteins in the blood, including the link to atherosclerosis, to its conversion into steroid hormones and bile acids.
  • Membrane Lipid Metabolism
    • This module covers how membrane lipids, glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids, are synthesized and structurally distinguished from one another.

Taught by

Kevin Ahern, PhD

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