This article is available online at http://www.jlr.org endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumenal lipid droplets ( 10-12 ). These lipid droplets are believed to serve as lipid donors for bulk lipidation of primordial apoB-containing particles ( 10-13 ). One enzyme that has been implicated to play a role in the hydrolysis of stored TG pools and assembly of VLDL is an ER-associated triacylglycerol hydrolase (TGH) (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). Inhibition of TGH leads to decreased TG mobilization and apoB secretion from hepatocytes ( 15 ). However, treatment of hepatocytes with a TGH-specifi c inhibitor reduced secretion of TG and apoB to a lesser extent than the general lipase inhibitor, diethyl p -nitrophenyl phosphate (E600), suggesting that other lipases may also contribute to VLDL assembly ( 15 ). The fact that perinatal rat hepatocytes are capable of TG secretion in the absence of TGH expression in this particular developmental stage provides further support for the existence of additional lipases ( 21,22 ).In addition to VLDL assembly, fatty acids released from intracellular stores can be utilized for energy production via  -oxidation in the mitochondria. Unlike the well-described roles of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and hormonesensitive lipase (HSL) in the mobilization of TG stores in adipose tissue ( 23-26 ), the identity of hepatic lipases supporting  -oxidation is still unclear. Arylacetamide deacetylase (AADA) shares sequence homology with HSL ( 27 ) and possesses a classical lipase/esterase GXSXG active site motif ( 27,28 ). Trickett et al. ( 28 ) have shown that hepatic AADA mRNA levels follow a diurnal rhythm with an identical pattern to hepatic VLDL secretion in mice. In this study, we Hydrolysis of hepatic intracellular triacylglycerol (TG) stores generates substrates for  -oxidation and lipid resynthesis, some of which are utilized for the assembly of VLDLs ( 1-3 ). The assembly of VLDL involves both cotranslational and posttranslational addition of lipids to apolipoprotein B (apoB) ( 4-7 ). The transfer of lipids to nascent apoB particles is facilitated by the microsomal triglyceride transfer protein ( 8, 9 ). Microsomal triglyceride transfer protein is also responsible for the formation of apoB-free This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Alberta, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. V.L., B.E., and M.T.-H.