Comportement In vitro et In vivo des chaînes courtes situées en position interne dans les triglycérides

Behaviour of short-chain fatty acids located at C-2 of triglycerides in vitro and in vivo

Shorter-chain fatty acids located on the triglyceride internal carbon are quickly hydrolysed during lipolysis in vivo and in vitro. This hydrolysis is not due to a lack of positional specificity of pancreatic lipase (glycerol ester hydrolase, EC 3.1.1.3), but rather to a spontaneous migration of internal shorter chains towards outer positions in diglycerides and monoglycerides.

The migration of internal shorter chains has two important effects: (1) In vivo, the level of shorter chains in lymphatic triglycerides is relatively low, even when these' chains are internal in fed triglycerides. (2) In vitro, the well known technique using the positional specificity of pancreatic lipase for the determination of triglyceride structure cannot be applied when the internal chain of the triglycerides is hort.