General description

Lipid A is the fundamental structure of lipopolysaccharides (LPS), present in bacteria.

Application

Lipid A, diphosphoryl from Escherichia coli F583 (Rd mutant) has been used:

to study the effect of various lipid A molecules on lung pericyte proliferation in vitro
to test on THP-1 and J774A.1 cells for neopterin and nitrite formation respectively
as lipopolysaccharides (LPS) derivatives in binding experiments
to stimulate the spleen cells and as a mitogen stimulation for toll like receptor 4 (TLR4)

Biochem/physiol Actions

Lipid A is mainly essential for the robust immunostimulatory activities of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) in human. Lipid A is the hydrophobic domain of LPS helps in anchoring LPS to the plasma membrane of bacteria. It is immunologically active and an important constituent of LPS recognised by immune system.