Mechanism of fat malabsorption in rats infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis

SUMMARY Long-chain fatty acid absorption in rats with a jejunal lesion similar to that which is found in adult coeliac disease has been studied. Neither changes in the solubility of the fatty acid in the intestinal lumen nor histological abnormalities of the villous epithelium accounted for the malabsorptive state. Evidence was obtained from studies in vivo of a disturbance in the intramucosal esterification of long-chain fatty acid. Assay of the activity of the microsomal enzymes responsible for the conversion of fatty acid to triglyceride revealed that this pathway was defective in the para-sitized animals. Rats which have been injected subcutaneously with larvae of the nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis develop a parasitic infestation of the proximal small intestine. The wall of the intestine is congested and dilated and mucosal inflammation is present (Talia-ferro and Sarles, 1939). The villi are shortened and there is lengthening of the crypts (Symons and Fairbairn, 1962 and 1963). The similiarity betwee