Pancreatic triglyceride lipase and colipase: insights into dietary fat digestion.

Dietary fats have an impact on health and disease. A pancreatic exocrine protein, pancreatic triglyceride lipase, is essential for the efficient digestion of dietary fats. This enzyme requires another pancreatic exocrine protein, colipase, for full activity in the gut lumen. In addition to its importance in fat digestion, pancreatic triglyceride lipase has potential applications in medical therapy, medical diagnostics, and industry. This potential stimulated interest in lipases; radiograph during the last few years, studies applying the technologies of molecular biology and radiograph crystallography greatly increased our knowledge about pancreatic triglyceride lipase and colipase protein structure, enzyme mechanism, and gene structure. This review focuses on these recent advances and discusses models for the kinetic properties of pancreatic triglyceride lipase and for the interaction of pancreatic triglyceride lipase with colipase.