DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION

OF DIETARY LIPIDS
DR HARYATI AHMAD HAIRI

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 LEARNING OUTCOMES
• EXPLAIN THE DIGESTION OF DIETARY
LIPIDS/FATS
• EXPLAIN THE ABSORPTION OF DIETARY
LIPIDS/FATS
• DISCUSS THE DIETARY FATE OF
TRIACYLGLYCEROL(TAG)

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 DIETARY LIPIDS

TAG
PHOSPHOLIPID

CHOLESTEROL ESTER

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 Introduction
• Lipids are insoluble in aqueous solution
• The digestive enzymes are present in aqueous
medium
• This leads certain problem in digestion and
absorption of lipid
• This is overcome by:
 Increasing the surface of lipid for digestion
 emulsification by bile salt
 solubilising the digested product for
absorption 4
 1. Digestion in Oral cavity

• Lingual glands secrete lingual lipase for

digestion of lipids. But, lipid digestion does
not take place in mouth.

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2. DIGESTION IN STOMACH
• Lingual lipase is activated at low pH of stomach
(pH2-2.5)
• It acts on shorter chain fatty acids. eg. milk, butter,
ghee fats.
• Thus, the action of Lingual Lipase is more significant
in the newborns

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 Gastric lipase

• is capable of hydrolyzing triacylglycerols (TAG

or TG) of short and medium chain fatty acids

• Its optimum pH is 5.

Up to 30% digestion of TAG occurs in stomach.

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 3.Digestion in the small intestine
(intestinal pH 5.8-6.5)
3 STEPS involved
1. Lipid emulsification
2. Digestion by pancreatic enzymes (pancreatic
lipase, collipase, cholesterol esterase,
phospholipases, lysophospholipases)
3. Digestion by instestinal enzymes (intestinal
lipases, phospholipases, lysophospholipases)

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 Digestion by pancreatic juice
• Digestion of TAG with Long Chain Fatty Acids
(LCFA) occurs in the duodenum by pancreatic
lipase.
• Collipase activates pancreatic lipase
• Bile salts and Calcium needed for lipase
action
• Cholesterol esterases
• Phospholipases and lysophospholipases
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 1. LIPID EMULSIFICATION
• Occurs in the duodenum, increases the
surface area of lipids.
• Emulsification is achieved with the help of
 bile salts (detergent property) and
 peristalsis (mechanical mixing)
• Dietary lipid particles become smaller, stable,
and are prevented from coalescing (=come together
to form one mass or whole)

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Digestion of TAG by pancreatic lipase
• The major enzyme that digests dietary triacylglycerol
is pancreatic lipase
• Pancreatic lipase hydrolyzes fatty acids of all chain
lengths from position 1st C and 3rd of triaclglycerol,
producing free fatty acids of 2-monoacylglycerol

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• Colipase binds to the dietary fat and to the
pancreatic lipase, causing it to be more active.
Isomerase
2-Monoacylglycerol 1-
Monocylglycerol

Pancreati
c
lipase

Glycerol
+

Fatty acid

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 Digestion of Phospholipid
• Have a glycerol backbone with 2 FA groups
and a phosphate group.
• Phospholipids are mainly digested by
pancreatic phospholipase A2 (activated by
trypsin/bile salts)

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• PLA2 removes FA on position 2. End result is lysophospholipid (structure
given at the right side above).
• PLA1 removes FA on position 1
• PLC hydrolyzes bond between phosphate and glycerol.
• PLD breaks bond between phosphate and base group (such as choline,
lecithine, sphingosine).

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 Digestion of dietary Cholesterol ester by
intestinal enzyme
CHOLESTEROL ESTER HYDROLASE
-Produced from intestinal
cells (cholesterol esterase)
- Catalyzes the hydrolysis of
cholesterol esters into free
fatty acid and cholesterol.

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 TAG Phospholipid cholesterol
Stomach
ester
• lingual lipase
•Gastric lipase phospholipase Cholesterol
• isomerase esterase
• pancreatic lipase
Intestine

2-monoacylglycerol Glycerol Cholesterol

1-monoacylglycerol Fatty acid Fatty acid
Glycerol Phosphoric acid
Fatty acid base

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 Bile salts
Bile salts are salts of bile acids such as
taurocholic acid, glycocholic acid,
taurochenodeoxycholic acid and
glycochenodeoxycholic acids that are
synthesized and secreted by liver cells in bile.

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• The digested products of lipids like- fatty acid,
monoacylglycerol and cholestrol interact with
bile salts from the gall bladder, to form
micelles.

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ABSORPTION OF LIPIDS

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• Site--- greatest in the upper part of small intestine
----small amount are absorbed in the ileum

• On moderate fat intake 95% or more of ingested

/consumed fat is absorbed

• At birth and infants fail to absorb 10-15% of

ingested fat

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 Micelles
• Mixed micelles are spherical particles with hydrophilic
exterior and hydrophobic interior core
• Short and medium chain fatty acids do not require bile salt for
absorption  They absorbed directly to intestinal cells and
enter the portal blood

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MICELLE FORMATION AND ABSORPTION OF LIPIDS
THROUGH UNSTIRRED WATER LAYER

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• Micelles move down their concentration
gradient through the unstirred water layer to
the brush border of the mucosal cells.
• The lipid diffused out of the micelles and enter
the intestinal cells by passive diffusion and are
rapidly esterified inside the cells.

• The bile salts remain in the intestinal lumen,

where they are available for the formation of
new micelles

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RE-ESTERIFICATION INSIDE THE CELLS

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• Shorter chain Fatty acids {10-12 carbon atoms
} pass from the mucosal cell directly into the
portal blood, where they are transported as
free (unesterifed) fatty acids.

• Fatty acids containing more than 10-12 carbon

atoms are re-esterified to triacylglycerols in
the mucosal cells.

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• Some of the cholesterol
(absorbed) is esterified.

• The triacylglycerols and

cholesterol ester are then
coated with a layer of
protein, cholesterol and
phospholipids to form
chylomicron which leave
the cell and enter
lymphatic.
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 Defect in fat digestion & absorption

• FAT DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION ARE IMPAIRED

in
1. Destruction of exocrine function portion of
pancreas (in cystic fibrosis)
2. Biliary tract obstruction
Lead to the formation of fatty, bulky, clay colored
stool (steatorrhoea)
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 SUMMARY OF DIGESTION OF TAG
• Digestion by lingual lipase and gastric lipase---
• Emulsification----
• Digestion by pancreatic lipase and colipase---
• Micelle formation---
• Absorbed by simple diffusion----
• Re-esterification----
• Lipoprotein formation----

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 REFERENCES
• Harper’s Biochemistry
• Lippincott’s Biochemistry
• Devlin Biochemistry

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End of lecture

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