There is also much left to learn about how the process is regulated in response to diet or other factors. For instance, "if you eat a fatty meal with more lipids, does this transport go faster?" Fong asked.

The findings may help sort out the causes of hypertriglyceridemia, which in many instances remain unclear.

"In humans, mechanisms for severe cases of hypercholesterolemia have come into focus, but the same cannot be said for many cases of severe hypertriglyceridemia," the researchers wrote. Many patients with very high triglyceride levels don't have mutations in any of the genes with known links to the condition and some have no obvious abnormalities in LPL levels either.

"It seems possible that defective transport of LPL into the capillaries could underlie at least some cases of hypertriglyceridemia in humans," they said.

Source: Cell Press