Lecture 7 - Absorption of Fats, Vitamins and Minerals Flashcards
Almost all ingested fat is in the form of what?
Triacylglycerol
What enzyme does ALL the fat digestion in the small intestine?
Pancreatic lipase
What is the issue with lipase?
Water soluble - digestion only at surface of a droplet of fat + so digestion very slow + in normal transit time fat would go undigested –> steatorrhoea
What are triacylglycerols composed of?
3 stearic acids + glycerol
What does lipase break triacylglycerols down into?
A monoglyceride + 2 fatty acids
What does the process of emulsifying fats involve?
Dividing the large lipid droplets into smaller ones to increase SA for lipase action
What are the 2 things that emulsification requires?
- Mechanical disruption of large lipid droplets into small ones
- Emulsifying agents (prevent small droplets reforming into large ones)
How does the gut mechanically disrupt large lipid molecules?
Muscularis externa (smooth muscle) contraction grinds + mixes luminal contents
What are the emulsifying agents in the gut?
Bile salts + phospholipids in bile
What kind of molecules are bile salts/phospholipids?
Amphiphatic molecules = have polar and non-polar portions
How do the amphiphatic molecules work in preventing lipid molecules reforming large droplets?
Non-polar portions associate with non-polar interior of lipid problem, with polar portion exposed at water
Polar portions repel other small lipid molecules which are also coated with amphiphatic molecules
Even with the emulsifying agents + mechanical disruption of lipid droplets, digestion via lipase is still very slow, what is the other component lipid digestion that overcomes this?
Formation of micelles (‘fat taxis’)
Describe a micelle
Like an emulsion droplet but much smaller
Composed of bile salt, monoglycerides, fatty acids, phospholipids
Are micelles extracellular or intracellular
Extracellular - never go inside cells
What molecules form the micelle surface?
Polar
What molecules form the micelle core?
Non-polar
What happens once the micelle has moved over to the brush border?
It breaks down and releases small amounts of free fatty acids and monoglycerides which diffuse across the plasma membrane of absorbing cells
Why does micelle breakdown occur at exactly the right spot?
Acid microclimate - fatty acids take on hydrogen ions and become uncharged + can diffuse across the lipid membrane
After the fatty acids/monoglycerides enter the epithelium cells where are they transported?
Into the smooth endoplasmic reticulum
What happens to FFA/monoglycerides in the smooth endoplasmic reticulum?
They are immediately reformed into triacyclglycerols