Fatty acid binding proteins in bovine intestinal mucosa

Five decades with polyunsaturated Fatty acids: chemical synthesis, enzymatic formation, lipid peroxidation and its biological effects

I have been involved in research on polyunsaturated fatty acids since 1964 and this review is intended to cover some of the most important aspects of this work. Polyunsaturated fatty acids have followed me during my whole scientific career and I have published a number of studies concerned with different aspects of them such as chemical synthesis, enzymatic formation, metabolism, transport, physical, chemical, and catalytic properties of a reconstructed desaturase system in liposomes, lipid peroxidation, and their effects. The first project I became involved in was the organic synthesis of [1-¹⁴C] eicosa-11,14-dienoic acid, with the aim of demonstrating the participation of that compound as a possible intermediary in the biosynthesis of arachidonic acid “in vivo.” From 1966 to 1982, I was involved in several projects that study the metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids. In the eighties, we studied fatty acid binding protein. From 1990 up to now, our laboratory has been interested in the lipid peroxidation of biological membranes from various tissues and different species as well as liposomes prepared with phospholipids rich in PUFAs. We tested the effect of many antioxidants such as alpha tocopherol, vitamin A, melatonin and its structural analogues, and conjugated linoleic acid, among others.

The palmitic acid binding properties of cytosolic proteins located in the villus and crypt zones of bovine intestinal mucosa

The palmitic acid binding capacity of cytosolic proteins in three preparations obtained by differential scraping of bovine intestinal mucosa were compared. The data indicated that the palmitic acid binding activities depended on the position that the cells occupied along the crypt-villus axis, as shown from the level of alkaline phosphatase activity. Proteins with palmitate binding properties in the high- and low-molecular-weight cytosolic proteins in the villus zone bound 1.24 +/- 0.41 and 1.54 +/- 0.16 pmol palminate/micrograms protein respectively. The binding decreased to 0.50 +/- 0.25 and 1.10 +/- 0.23 pmol palmitate/micrograms for the proteins in the crypt zone. Ammonium sulphate fractionation and gel filtration chromatography indicated that the low-molecular-weight cytosolic proteins obtained from light mucosal scrapings contained the highest palmitate binding activity. These results suggest that the cytosolic proteins located in the villus zone may play a role in the absorption of fatty acids.