Intestinal cholesterol and oleic acid uptake from solutions supersaturated with lipids

To test the role of nonmicellar phases in lipid absorption, intestinal uptake of fatty acids and cholesterol has been studied in vitro from supersaturated and micellar solutions. The micellar solubility limit at equilibrium was established for cholesterol and oleate/monoolein (2:1) at pH 6.7 with 10 mM taurocholate. Uptake by rat intestinal everted sacs was measured during incubation of 5 min. Cholesterol uptake increased linearly with the cholesterol content of micellar or supersaturated solutions up to a supersaturation of 150%. Oleate uptake, by contrast, remained essentially the same from either saturated or supersaturated (130-280%) mixtures. The difference between cholesterol and oleate uptake rates is explained by their distinct effects on micellar size, which is unchanged by cholesterol supersaturation but is increased by oleate. Solutions largely supersaturated (280%) with oleate-monoolein are polydisperse and contain viscous isotropic and paracrystalline phases similar to those observed during lipid absorption. These results suggest that, in the presence of such solutions, uptake occurs from both the micellar saturated and nonmicellar supersaturated phases.