Absorption of lipids from non-micellar phases

Up till now intestinal lipid absorption from mixed micellar solutions has been studied in detail. The existence of non-micellar dispersions of lipolytic products in intestinal contents during fat digestion has recently been proposed [18,47], but so far only little information regarding the importance of these phases for the lipid 

It is well estabUshed that uptake of oleic acid from an emulsion is significantly reduced compared to uptake from a micellar solution. This has been shown in vitro with everted sacs of rat jejunum [78] as well as in vivo with lymph fistula rats [72]. 

Data on absorption of non-micellar lipids in the presence of bile salts is available from the study )y Knoebel [79]. The lymphatic transport of absorbed oleic acid and site of uptake from the intestinal lumen was measured in bile fistula rats. It was found that the concentration of bile salts in a continuous intraduodenal infusion did not affect the steady-state level of lipid appearing in the lymph until the bile salt concentration was as low as 1 mM, which represented a molar ratio of 20 1 of lipid to bile salt. In the case of infusates with relatively low concentrations of bile salts it was found that a larger part of the available surface area of the small intestine was utilized. The main conclusion is that lipids are equally well absorbed in vivo from non-micellar dispersions of lipids and bile salts as from solutions where the lipids are completely solubilized by bile salt mixed micelles. However, a detailed analysis of kinetics of uptake from non-micellar phases in vitro with isolated intestinal segments has not yet been done. 

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