Intestinal lipid absorption is not affected in CD36 deficient mice

Abstract

Increasing evidence has impl icated the mem bra ne protein CD36 (or fatty acid translocase, FAT) to be invo lved in high affin ity fatty acid uptake. CD36 is expressed in tiss ues active in fatty acid meta bo lism, like adipose tissue and skeletal and cardiac musc le, but also in intestin e. CD36 is loca lized in the intestine mainl y in the j eju nal villi, where it is confined to enterocyte apical memb ran e. The aim was to determin e the role ofCD36 in intestina l lipid absorption. Lipid absorption was determined by admini steri ng 3H-labeled triolein and I·C-Iabeled palmitic acid as an olive oi l bolu s by intragastric gavage and determ ine appearance oPH and I· C labe l in plasm a, after blocking lipolysis by i.v. inject ions of Triton WR 1339. Surprisingly, no differences in plasma app earance of 3H-label or I· C-label we re obs erved in CD36-1-mic e compared to wi ld type controls. These results suggest that C D36 does not play a ro le in intesti na l lipid absorptio n afte r an acute lipid load. (Mol Ce ll Biochem 239 : 199-202, 2002) Key words: C D36 , lipop rote ins, fatty acid transport , triglyceride metabol ism , transgeni c mice