The importance of long chain fatty acids (LCFA) for cellular homeostasis and as fuel for energy metabolism is well known. The uptake of plasma LCFA and especially the transport across the plasma membrane has long been considered to occur by passive diffusion with the uptake being dependent solely on the transmembrane LCFA concentration gradient. However, within the past decade numerous studies have indicated that the transmembrane transport of LCFA involved a protein dependent component. In line with this, several putative lipid “transport or binding” proteins have been identified.

Skeletal muscle, a tissue in which fatty acids are very important for energy turnover, expresses several lipid binding proteins such as FABPpm, FATP1, FATP4 and FAT/CD36. The present PhD thesis brings the obtained research results from four studies and unpublished work together with the current knowledge in the lipid metabolism field in a detailed overview on the role of lipid binding proteins in LCFA uptake in skeletal muscle.

This PhD thesis has taken a special focus on the cellular localization and cellular trafficking of the lipid binding proteins in skeletal muscle.

Joachim Füllekrug, Jacob Jeppesen and Lorraine P. Turcotte

Bente Kiens and Jacob Jeppsen

Content (pdf, 24 kb)

Summary (pdf, 17 kb)

Preface (pdf, 30 kb)

List of papers (pdf, 23 kb)