Studies on nonesterified fatty acids in rat intestinal cell membranes

Lipid composition of total membrane fractions prepared from scraped rat intestinal mucosa and isolated epithelial cells were compared. Membranes prepared from mucosa had four times higher nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) as compared to the epithelial cell membranes. Cholesterol and phospholipid contents were similar in both the membrane preparations but triglyceride content was high and di- and monoglyceride were low in epithelial cell membranes as compared to the mucosal membranes. Inclusion of p-bromophenacyl bromide, a phospholipase inhibitor, in the intestinal lumen wash solution and homogenizing buffer did not reduce the NEFA content of the scraped mucosal membranes whereas inclusion of diethyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate, a lipase inhibitor reduced it by 40%. These results suggest that NEFA are normal constituent of intestinal cell membranes.