THE RECOGNITION SYSTEM OF DIETARY FATTY-ACIDS BY THE RAT SMALL-INTESTINAL CELLS

Small intestinal epithelial cells interact with a rather high concentr ation of fatty acids derived from the diet. These fatty acids directly or indirectly regulate the functions of the small intestine. We repor t here that linoleic acid and oleic acid markedly increased the influx of Ca-45(2+) into the small intestinal epithelial cell line (IEC 6). By contrast, octanoic acid, methyl linoleate, and linolyl alcohol had no effect on the influx. Acidic amino acids, methyl linoleate, and lin olyl alcohol, inhibited the linoleic acid-induced influx of Ca-45(2+), indicating that activation of the influx by linoleic acid depended on the chain length and was affected by the presence of a carboxyl group . Of the gastrointestinal hormones, somatostatin specifically inhibite d the linoleic acid-induced influx of Ca-45(2+).