Name the special route which lipids follow through digestion

Question

Name the special route which lipids follow throughout digestion? Illustrate what are chylomicrons?

Answer 1

Triglycerides emulsified by bile in micelles suffer the action of lipases which break them into glycerol and fatty acids. Cholesterol, Fatty acids and glycerol are absorbed by the intestinal mucosa. In the interior of mucosal cells fatty acids and glycerol form triglycerides which together with phospholipids and cholesterol are packed in small vesicles covered by proteins and are termed as called chylomicrons. The chylomicrons are discharged in minuscule lymphatic vessels not in blood vessels and they grow the lymphatic circulation.

Therefore the lymphatic system plays a significant role in the absorption of the lipids.

Lymphatic circulation drains its content to venous blood circulation. In that way chylomicrons reach the liver where their lipid content is processed and liberated in the blood below the form of protein-containing complexes termed as lipoproteins, such as HDL, VLDL and LDL.