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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Int Rev Cell Mol Biol. 2015 Oct 31;321:29–88. doi: 10.1016/bs.ircmb.2015.10.001

Figure 6.

Figure 6

PE:PC ratio in liver disease. (A) MDR2 is a PC-specific flippase that mediates the secretion of PC into bile. (B) Depletion of PC levels by ablating its synthesis via the PEMT pathway leads to an increase in the PE:PC ratio in hepatocyte membranes due to both a decrease in its synthesis as well as continued secretion by MDR2. A decrease in the levels of PC relative to PE results in leaky hepatocyte membranes causing cell lysis and subsequent tissue damage. (C) CDP-ethanolamine pathway in hepatocytes. (D) Upon deletion of CTP:phosphoethanolamine cytidylyltransferase in the CDP-ethanolamine pathway, the DAG that is normally used to generate CDP-ethanolamine accumulates and is instead consumed to form triglyceride (TG). Increased accumulation of triglycerides leads to the development of steatosis. EK, ethanolamine kinase.