Morphometric analysis of the membranes and organelles of small intestinal enterocytes. II. Lipid-fed hamster

Abstract

We have carried out a comprehensive morphometric (mainly stereologic) analysis of the lipid-absorbing enterocyte of the hamster small intestine. Geometrically, we have estimated the absolute volume of an average lipid-absorbing enterocyte to be 1890 μm3. Absolute volumes and surface areas of organelles and membranes and numbers of ribosomes were derived and statistically compared with analogous absolute data from fasted hamster enterocytes reported in the preceding paper. Our results support the view that absorbed lipid is accomodated by conversion of lamellar to vesicular ER and Golgi membranes and not by additional net membrane. Parts of this study were presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of The American Society for Cell Biology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.