Intracellular Hydrolysis of Lipids

Hydrolysis of triacylglycerides in tissues is effected by a tissue enzyme, tri-acylglyceride lipase, which hydrolyzes triacylglycerides to glycerol and free fatty acids. There are a variety of tissue lipases that differ primarily in their optimum pH and their location in the cell. The acidic lipase is contained in lysosomes the basic lipase, in microsomes and the neutral lipase, in cytoplasm. A specific feature of the tissue lipase is its sensitivity to hormones which, by activating adenylate cyclase, elicit the transition of the inactive tissue lipase to its active 

As is known, hydrolysis of intracellular lipids does not lead to a storage of glycerol and fatty acids. This indicates that the hydrolysis rate for the lipids is balanced against the rate of their intracellular oxidation. In the adipose tissue, glycerol and fatty acids as produced by triacylglycejride hydrolysis are not subject to oxidation and are released into the blood to be supplied to other organs. 

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