Intestinal absorption of dolichol from emulsions and liposomes in rats

The intestinal absorption of dolichol from various dosage forms was investigated using the intestinal loop and everted sac methods in the rat. The in situ loop experiments showed that the absorption of dolichol from a triglyceride emulsion was dependent on the chain-length of the triglyceride; the absorption from a tri-n-butyrin emulsion in 1 h was 18.0% of the dose; and the absorption from an HCO-60 suspension was 4.3%. The liposomal preparation enhanced the absorption up to 39.1% of the dose. In in vitro experiments, 25.0% and 13.2% of dolichol were taken up by everted sacs of the jejunum and the ileum, respectively. On the other hand, phospholipids composing liposomes were not absorbed under these conditions. The above results suggest that the absorption mechanism from liposomal preparations may be as follows: dolichol is released from the liposomes into the aqueous phase adjacent to the surface of the intestine and is subsequently partitioned into the intestinal tissue.