<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<term>
  <id>09841</id>
  <title>lipid droplets</title>
  <longtitle>IUPAC Gold Book - lipid droplets</longtitle>
  <doi>10.1351/goldbook.09841</doi>
  <code>09841</code>
  <status>current</status>
  <mentioned><em>mentioned</em>: squalene</mentioned>
  <synonym><em>synonyms</em>: adiposomes, lipid bodies, lipid particles, oil bodies, oleosomes</synonym>
  <definitions>
    <item>
      <id>1</id>
      <text>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.</text>
      <notes>
        <item>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.</item>
      </notes>
      <links>
        <item>
          <term>glycerophospholipid</term>
          <url>https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09839</url>
        </item>
      </links>
      <sources>
        <item>PAC, 2018, 90, 1121. 'Terminology of bioanalytical methods (IUPAC Recommendations 2018)' on page 1177 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2016-1120)</item>
      </sources>
    </item>
  </definitions>
  <altoutputs>
    <html>https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09841/html</html>
    <json>https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09841/json</json>
    <plain>https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09841/plain</plain>
  </altoutputs>
  <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</citation>
  <license>The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.</license>
  <collection>If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .</collection>
  <disclaimer>The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.</disclaimer>
  <accessed>2026-05-09T22:58:30+00:00</accessed>
</term>
