Hi guys. In my second year of study. This week we lernt about energy metabolism and I am confused about a few things.

 

(1)Is thermogensis( which is basically heat production) the pathway
in which adipocytes(adipose tissue/white fat) are oxidised which causes a
release of ATP? Is this fat loss in a nutshell?

(2) My lecturer said that de novo lipogenisis is not that significant in
humans ; that we need 500+ surplus of carbohydrates to really initiate
this biochemical process ?. What is the process in which we put on fat
though? I’v read somewhere that lipogenesis is when acetyl-CoA is converted to fats and encompasses fatty acid synthesis and triglyceride synthesis ?

Am I on the right path guys ?

 

Cheers.

I don't have time to do this topic justice today. However, I can give you a few quick thoughts. Thermogenesis is associated in some animals with brown adipose tissue (p. 917); adipose that has mitochondria. The energy that is ordinarily used to make ATP is used to generate heat instead. See p. 736 in Nelson and Cox, Biochemistry, 5th ed.

 

I am not sure how to answer your second question. Lipogenesis literally means synthesis of lipids, which certainly includes fatty acids, TAGs (triglycerides), and cholesterol. Certainly humans are capable of synthesizing fatty acids from acetyl CoA.