The role of liquid crystalline behaviour of adrenocortical lipids in the control of steroidogenesis.
The physical state of rat adrenocortical lipids was studied by applying temperature-dependent techniques, including polarization microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Freeze-fracture detection was used for electron microscopic examinations. Temperature-dependent multiple phase transitions of adrenocortical lipids and their lamellar submicroscopic structure suggest a liquid crystalline state. This provides a possible explanation for the transition of storage lipids into liquid state, a precondition for their mobilization and processing by hydrolyzing enzyme system.
D000302:Adrenal Cortex / Q000032:analysis*; D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000818:Animals; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D003460:Crystallization; D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D008055:Lipids; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization; D051381:Rats; D013696:Temperature
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D008055:Lipids