Structural correlates of milk lipid absorption and chylomicron production were studied in 10-day-old suckled rats. The gastric and duodenal contents and duodenal mucosae were examined with the light and electron microscopes. In the gastric lumen the milk lipid globule cores were smooth, circular and uniformly electron opaque. Many membranes and lamellar structures with a trilaminar and multilamellar appearance were adherent to the peripheries of the cores. In the central duodenal lumen the milk lipid globule cores were also smooth, circular and uniformly electron opaque. Very few milk lipid globules in the duodenal lumen showed adherent membranes or lamellae. Membrane fragments and lamellae were present in the lumen separate from the milk lipid globules. In the duodenal lumen between villi the milk lipid globules had multiple electron lucent indentations of the core. It is believed that the irregular peripheries of the milk lipid globule cores are the result of lipolysis within the duodenal lumen acting at the milk lipid globule surface. This lipolysis of triacylglycerol would produce amphiphilic lipids which may result in the electron lucent spaces at the milk lipid globule periphery. The absorptive epithelial cells along the length of the duodenal villus varied in structure relative to their position at the tip, middle, or base of the villus. Typical mid-villus epithelial cells contained lipid droplets averaging 0.3-micrometer diameter in the smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum and in Golgi complexes in the apical cytoplasm. Villus tip and villus base cells contained large lipid droplets between 7-16 micrometers. Only a few 0.3-micrometer lipid droplets were present within these cells. These large lipid droplets appeared to be accumulations of triacylglycerol present in the apical cytoplasm associated with lamellar and membranous structures. Numerous chylomicrons were present between epithelial cells located in the middle region of the villus while significantly fewer chylomicrons were seen between epithelial cells at the tip and base of the villus. These observations suggest that the cells at the middle of the duodenal villus of suckling rats were more efficient in the production of chylomicron triacylglycerol derived from incoming milk triacylglycerol than cells at the tip and base of the villus.

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