A Note on the Intestinal Absorption of Cholesteryl Ethers in the Rat ∗

Summary

Cholesteryl ethers of aliphatic alcohols when fed in triolein are absorbed by rat intestinal mucosa and transported in the thoracic duct lymph of rats fed these ethers. The recovery of the ethers in the lymph decreases with the chain length of the aliphatic alcohol moiety of the ether. Around 1/3 of the methyl ether fed being recovered and 4% of the decyl ether. The cholesteryl ethers are recovered in the lymph in general to more than 90% in unchanged form.

The results obtained clearly show that the free form is not the only possible transport form for cholesterol into the intestinal mucosa cells.