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Lipid droplet

Neutral lipid under a single phospholipid monolayer, not a bilayer, because what it encloses is oil rather than water.

12 pictures and 17 papers. Its organelle page: Lipid droplet.

Gallery

A lipid droplet in lean mouse liver, raw on the left and the depositors' own hand tracing on the right. The droplet is the smooth featureless body: neutral lipid has no internal structure to resolve, which is what distinguishes it from every membrane-bound organelle around it. The ER membranes crowding it are visible as the fine parallel lines. Measured from the tracing, this droplet is 353 nm across at the widest of its 25 slices.

Parlakgul G, Arruda AP, Pang S, Cagampan E, Min N, Guney E, Lee Y, Inouye K, Hess HF, Xu CS, Hotamisligil GS · CC0

Panel G, "Soft" row: DAPI (blue) and BODIPY-stained lipid droplets (green) in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes on a soft hydrogel substrate. Part of a composite figure on substrate stiffness and adipogenesis.

Zhu, Yang, Jin et al 2026, Journal of Lipid Research · CC BY 4.0

PLIN1a promoted the formation of large LDs in chicken preadipocytes. (A) Overexpression of PLIN1 protein isoforms influenced LD size in chicken preadipocytes. pCMV-HA empty vector (control) or different HA-tagged PLIN1 plasmids were transfected into PLIN1-KO cells. Representative images showing that PLIN1 protein isoforms promote the formation of large LDs. LDs were stained with BODIPY 493/503 (green) and nuclei were counterstained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 10 um.

Han, Zhou, Liu et al 2026, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology · CC BY 4.0

Liver-specific overexpression of seipin increases hepatic lipid accumulation in C57BL/6J mice. A: Representative images of liver, H&E, and Oil Red O staining of liver sections from AAV-Ctrl and AAV-hSeipin mice under normal rodent diet conditions. The scale bar represents 50 um. B: Representative images of the hepatocyte ultrastructure in AAV-Ctrl (upper) and AAV-hSeipin (lower) mice revealed by transmission electron microscopy. The scale bars represent 2 um (top) and 500 nm (bottom).

Dong, Ma, Chen et al 2026, Journal of Lipid Research · CC BY 4.0

Lipid droplet accumulation and ultrastructural changes in FKD cells. A BODIPY staining revealed markedly increased cytoplasmic lipid droplets in FKD cells ( c ) compared with mock cells ( a ). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) demonstrated numerous large lipid droplets and distorted cytoplasmic organelles in FKD cells ( d ) compared with mock cells ( b ). The arrows indicate lipid droplets within the cytoplasm. B Semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis showed upregulation of lipid metabolism-related genes (SREBP-1, SCD, ACC, MTP), indicating activation of lipogenic pathways following Fbxw7 depletion

Hayashi, Yamamoto, Murakami et al 2026, Medical Molecular Morphology · CC BY 4.0

Class I proteins target LDs with a wide range of concentrations. ( A ) Schematic representation of the experimental protocol. HeLa cells are transfected with the protein of interest and an ER lumen marker for 24 hours. Cells are then exposed to OA (200 uM) for 24 hours and observed in the presence of an LD fluorescent reporter. h, hours. ( B and C ) Confocal microscopy images of cells transfected

Damm, Omrane, Stojanovic et al 2025, Science Advances · CC BY 4.0

SPDL1-L translocates from the ER to LDs in a manner partially dependent on Seipin. (A) Localization of mEGFP-SPDL1-L. HeLa cells were transfected with mEGFP-SPDL1-L and the ER marker BFP-SEC61b, with or without 100 uM OA treatment for 16 h prior to fixation. LDs were stained with LipidTOX (red). Scale bars represent 10 um (2 um for enlarged images).

Su, Pan, Liu et al 2026, Advanced Science · CC BY 4.0

Lipid ROS localization reflects distinct roles of LDs in ferroptosis. (A) Representative confocal microscopy images of A549 cells co-stained with the BODIPY C11 581/591 lipid peroxidation sensor (oxidized, green; reduced, magenta) and the Lipi-Blue lipid droplet marker (cyan), following FSP1 silencing (siFSP1) and/or supplementation with 200 uM docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) for 24 h. Boxed insets show representative regions of a single cell displayed in three separate fluorescent channels. Lipid droplet localizations in all three channels are marked with white arrows. Green arrows mark oxidized probe signal that does not colocalize with lipid droplets. Scale bars, 5 μm and 2 μm (inset).

Kump, Perne, Koren et al 2026, The FEBS Journal · CC BY 4.0

ACSLs' inhibition by Triacsin affects LD accumulation and embryo development. (A,B) LDs (BODIPY 493/503, green) among the four groups from the 2-cell stage to the morula stage. Images are representative of F1 embryos (at least n = 10 embryos per groups). Scale bars: 10 um.

Khan, Winiarczyk, Boffa et al 2026, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology · CC BY 4.0

Lipid droplets (BODIPY 493/503, green, arrow) in a pre-migration Drosophila border cell cluster (Fascin, magenta). Maximum projection of three confocal slices, cropped from a figure comparing lipid droplets across border cell migration stages. Scale bar 10 um.

Wipf, Lowden, Giedt et al 2026, Development (Cambridge, England) · CC BY 4.0

Structure of a camel liver hepatocyte. NN--nucleolus in the nucleus; LD--lipid droplet; M--mitochondria; GER--granular endoplasmic reticulum channels; R--ribosomes and polyribosomes. Electron microphotography. (Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus, liver hepatocyte); Figure 7single.)

Musina, Lebedeva, Drozdova et al 2025, Animals · CC BY 4.0

SQSTM1/p62 in green contacting LipidSpot-positive lipid droplets in magenta in KOLF2.1 J astrocytes; overlap volume is white. 3D projection: 110.93 x 110.93 x 10-11.20 um3. (human (KOLF2.1J iPSC-derived astrocytes); Figure 5, panel B (confocal IF micrographs only; bar chart panels A and C excluded; cols 270-1250 then 105-865 of full figure row).)

Cuni-Lopez, Root, Hao et al 2026, Nature Communications · CC BY 4.0

Papers

  1. Cuní-López C, Root JT, Hao Y, Blomberg N, Koppes-den Hertog SJ, Sacks D, et al. APOE genotypes differentially remodel the astrocytic lipid droplet proteome to shape lipid droplet dynamics. Nat Commun. 2026;17:9900. PMID: 42749735.
  2. Wei J, Pi C, Qi Y, Yang W, Sun J, Xu X, et al. TGF-β2 drives lipid droplet accumulation in chondrocytes through the TβRI/p-smad3/fabp5 axis. J Biol Chem. 2026;302:113317. PMID: 42409266.
  3. Wei R, Petritsch CK. Lipid droplets as stress-buffering organelles in cancer cell homeostasis. Commun Biol. 2026;9:868. PMID: 42374159.
  4. Stribny J, Schneiter R. Phosphatidylethanolamine binds to human perilipins via a hydrophobic cleft in their 4-helix bundle domain for lipid droplet targeting. J Biol Chem. 2026;302:113268. PMID: 42320629.
  5. Tripathy SK, Mahapatra A, Saharan O, Chatterjee H, Sengupta N, Kamat S, et al. Selective targeting of kinesin on lipid droplets in the liver reduces plasma lipids. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026;123:e2528332123. PMID: 42118832.
  6. Wakula M, Jablonowska M, Chmielarczyk M, Tarnowski L, Kulinczak M, Sitkiewicz E, et al. Granulocyte differentiation arrest in HAX1-deficient cells, demonstrated in a new in vitro model of a certain phenotypic aspects of Kostmann disease, is caused by ineffective lipid droplet autophagy and fatty acids uptake. Cell Death Dis. 2026;17:594. PMID: 42086536.
  7. Xu Y, Gao X, Xu S, Jian L, Shi J, Zhao Y, et al. Perilipin 5 enhances glycogen storage and mitigates excessive fatty acid oxidation in skeletal muscle to alleviate mitochondrial impairment. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Res. 2026;1873:120146. PMID: 41962775.
  8. Yu Z, Zhao M, Xu H, Jin X, Sun J. Lipid droplet-associated proteins: Roles in cardiovascular diseases. J Lipid Res. 2026;67:101010. PMID: 41759583.
  9. Mallia A, Papaianni GG, Brocca L, Banfi C, Gianazza E. Decoding the Lipid Droplet Proteome: New Frontiers in Cardiovascular Disease Research. Int J Mol Sci. 2025;26:10280. PMID: 41226321.
  10. Krauß LM, Schrul B. Navigating lipid droplet proteins - part II: molecular mechanisms underlying ER-to-lipid droplet protein partitioning. Biochem Soc Trans. 2025;53:1417-1429. PMID: 41160906.
  11. Musina L, Lebedeva A, Drozdova L, Prusakov A, Ponamarev V. Features of the Liver Microstructural Organization of the Bactrian Camel. Animals (Basel). 2025;15:2921. PMID: 41096516.
  12. Damm A, Omrane M, Stojanović O, Esch BM, Zouiouich M, Carpentier M, et al. Steric repulsion counteracts ER-to-lipid droplet protein movement. Sci Adv. 2025;11:eadu6998. PMID: 40991692.
  13. Gianazza E, Papaianni GG, Brocca L, Banfi C, Mallia A. Omics Approaches to Study Perilipins and Their Significant Biological Role in Cardiometabolic Disorders. Int J Mol Sci. 2025;26:557. PMID: 39859272.
  14. Dias Araújo AR, Bello AA, Bigay J, Franckhauser C, Gautier R, Cazareth J, et al. Surface tension-driven sorting of human perilipins on lipid droplets. J Cell Biol. 2024;223:e202403064. PMID: 39297796.
  15. Zhang Z, Yu Z, Liang D, Song K, Kong X, He M, et al. Roles of lipid droplets and related proteins in metabolic diseases. Lipids Health Dis. 2024;23:218. PMID: 39030618.
  16. Ariyoshi K, Nishiyama K, Kato Y, Mi X, Ito T, Azuma YT, et al. Inhibition of Drp1-Filamin Protein Complex Prevents Hepatic Lipid Droplet Accumulation by Increasing Mitochondria-Lipid Droplet Contact. Int J Mol Sci. 2024;25:5446. PMID: 38791484.
  17. Klug YA, Ferreira JV, Carvalho P. A unifying mechanism for seipin-mediated lipid droplet formation. FEBS Lett. 2024;598:1116-1126. PMID: 38785192.

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