Intestinal fat digestion, absorption, and transport A review

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Biochemical, physiological and morphological processes that underlie the intraluminal digestion and intracellular transport of lipids have been clarified by researchers only in the past 15 years. As early as the 19th century the central problem of how fats pass from the intestinal lumen, through the gut wall into lymphatic vessels, has been the focus of lipid digestion research. The study of that absorption has been divided into four major areas that coincide with the successive stages in the transport of lipids from the gut lumen to the lacteals: the intraluminal digestion of fats; the entry of fat into intestinal absorptive cells; the resynthesis of triglycerides in the absorptive cells and formation of chylomicra; and transport of chylomicra from the intestinal epithelial cells to the lymphatic vessels. An indepth historic overview into the four stages of fat digestion allows scientists to reassess the remaining controversies and unresolved questions of intestinal lipid digestion, absorption, and transport