Catabolism of fatty acids

Catabolic pathways ware characteristically energy yielding, whereas anabolic pathways are energy requiring. Catabolism involves the oxidative degradation of complex nutrient molecules obtained either from the environment or from cellular reserves.

 Fatty acids are released from triglycerides stories in adipose tissue, transported in plasma in association with albumin and delivered to cells for metabolism. The fatty acids are catabolised by β-oxidation. The products of catabolism of phenyl derivatives of benzoic acid or phenylacetic acid, or their higher homologs, are excreted in urine. These products are always the derivatives of benzoic acid or phenylacetic acid.

In the fatty acid catabolism, two carbon units are sequentially removed, beginning from the carboxyl-terminal end. The major end products are acetyl co enzymes A and the reduced forms of the nucleotides FADH2 an NADH.
Catabolism of fatty acids