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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Using Caco-2 Cells to Study Lipid Transport by the Intestine
Published on: August 20, 2015
Transport of fat through jejunal absorptive epithelium in vitro
Abstract:
The mucosa of excised pieces of jejunum of fasting rats was exposed for 10 min to fresh chyme obtained from other rats which had been digesting either buttered bread or bread alone. The mucosa was then processed for electron microscopy of lipid material. After exposure to fatty chyme, fat globules were scattered throughout the cytoplasm of absorptive epithelial cells, and concentrated in both supranuclear and infranuclear components of the Golgi apparatus. They were also present within lymphatics of the villus. After exposure to both types of chyme, the basal parts of the cells were much elongated through collection of a finely granular deposit of non-lipid material. This collection was probably due to failure of clearance of absorbed material from the cells in the absence of blood flow through the villus.
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