Mucosal membrane maturation

The relative importance of each of these contributions to pool C is likely to be different in epithelial cells located at different points along the villus-crypt axis. The fact that cholesterol derived from synthesis and from the uptake of LDL is critically important for membrane formation and differentiation is suggested by the finding that 70-80% of total mucosal sterol synthetic activity and LDL transport activity are localized to the immature cells of the lower villus and crypt regions in both the proximal and distal intestine. In the mature absorptive cells of the upper villus in the jejunum, where most sterol absorption takes place, the rate of cholesterol synthesis appears to be suppressed. In the absence of fat absorption, cholesterol newly synthesized in these cells apparently is sloughed into the lumen and not reabsorbed. However, with active triglyceride absorption cholesterol synthesis in these cells is increased and a portion of this sterol appears in the intestinal lymph. Only under this condition does pool B apparently supply sterol for lipoprotein formation. 

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