Dietary fat content influences uptake of hexoses and lipids into rabbit jejunum following ileal resection.

After 6 weeks' feeding on a high-fat or low-fat diet, the in vitro uptake of hexoses and lipids was measured in control rabbits with an intact intestinal tract, and in animals submitted to the surgical removal of the distal half of their small intestine. Jejunal villus height, villus surface area and mucosal surface area were higher in unresected control rabbits fed the low- as compared with the high-fat diet, whereas dietary fat content had no effect on villus morphology in resected animals. Mucosal surface area was similar in control and in resected animals fed the high-fat diet, but was lower in resected than in control animals fed the low-fat diet. The active and passive transport properties of the jejunum were influenced by dietary fat manipulation. These absorption changes were qualitatively and/or quantitatively different in animals with an ileal resection from those in animals with an intact small intestine. Dietary fat manipulation had a different effect on the uptake of each lipid probe. The effective resistance of the intestinal unstirred water layer also adapted to changes in the dietary content of fat, but the changes in uptake of hexoses, fatty acids and cholesterol cannot be simply explained by alterations in this diffusion barrier, or by changes in the villus morphology. These findings indicate the importance of dietary fat on villus structure and transport function and their adaptation to ileal resection.