Lipid droplet

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

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Bounding membrane

one phospholipid leaflet, a monolayer rather than a bilayer

mouse, cultured adipocytes · affinity chromatography of isolated droplets with fluorescence anisotropy · Storey SM 2011, Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab · source

The monolayer is not a passive skin

on perilipin-enriched droplets it is a highly organised rigid structure, measurably less fluid than on droplets coated with ADRP and TIP47, with higher cholesterol to phospholipid and saturated to unsaturated ratios

mouse, cultured adipocytes · DPH-TMA, NBD-cholesterol and NBD-sphingomyelin fluorescence · Storey SM 2011, Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab · source

Coat decides the lipases carried

perilipin-enriched droplets carry caveolin-1, ATGL and HSL; ADRP and TIP47 droplets had little to no lipase activity

mouse, cultured adipocytes · coimmunoprecipitation with lipase assay · Storey SM 2011, Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab · source

Diameter of one droplet in lean mouse liver

353 nm at the widest of 25 consecutive slices, from a traced area of 0.098 square micrometres. One droplet in one crop, not a population

mouse, liver · FIB-SEM at 8 nm with hand-traced ground truth, measured by counting labelled voxels · EMPIAR-10791, Parlakgul 2022 · source

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Diameter in the white adipocyte

adipo.site holds the sourced droplet and cell volumes for its twin; this page will take the figure from that file rather than restate it here unsourced.

Behind the copy

The lipid droplet stores neutral lipid, mostly triacylglycerol, in a core bounded by a single phospholipid monolayer rather than a bilayer, because what it encloses is oil and not water. The monolayer is not a passive skin: on perilipin-enriched droplets it is a highly organised, rigid membrane structure, measurably less fluid than the monolayer of droplets coated with ADRP and TIP47 instead, and that difference tracks which lipases the droplet carries. In the white adipocyte one droplet fills nearly the whole cell and pushes the nucleus flat against the membrane.

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Real pictures

Gallery and papers in the library

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 · source · FIB-SEM at 8 nm, with the depositors' hand-traced ground truth

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 · source · fluorescence microscopy, composite figure

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 · source · figure from an open-access paper

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 · source · figure from an open-access paper

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 · source · figure from an open-access paper

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 · source · figure from an open-access paper

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 · source · figure from an open-access paper

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 · source · figure from an open-access paper

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 · source · figure from an open-access paper

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 · source · confocal micrograph, cropped from a comparison figure

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 · source · figure from an open-access paper, transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

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 · source · figure from an open-access paper, confocal immunofluorescence (LipidSpot, SQSTM1/p62, Hoechst)

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