Title: lipid droplets
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - lipid droplets
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.09841
Status: current

Definition
Round-shaped intracellular inclusions consisting of hydrophobic cores (mainly triacylglycerols, sterol esters, occasionally free fatty acids or squalene) covered by a phospholipid monolayer containing a specific set of proteins.

Note
Originally considered as lipid storage compartments, lipid droplets are currently recognised as organelles with high metabolic activity. The defective formation and/or function of lipid droplets is involved in various pathogenic conditions, such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, or metabolic syndrome.

Related Term
- glycerophospholipid: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09839

Source
- PAC, 2018, 90, 1121. 'Terminology of bioanalytical methods (IUPAC Recommendations 2018)' on page 1177 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2016-1120)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09841/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09841/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09841/xml

Citation: Citation: 'lipid droplets' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.09841
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Accessed: 2026-05-09T22:57:06+00:00