Aqueous lipid phases of relevance to intestinal fat digestion and absorption

Abstract
The phase behavior of monoglyceride/water systems, with oleic and linoleic acid as the dominating fatty acid residues, was investigated. Increased solubilization of triglycerides (oil) or oleic acid in the cubic liquid-crystalline phase formed by monoglyceride and water resulted in the formation of a reversed hexagonal liquid-crystalline phase followed by an L2-phase. The liquid-crystalline phases have different dispersion properties compared to each other in dilute micellar bile salt solutions. The cubic phase is found to be easily dispersed. The relevance of aqueous lipid phases other thah micellar is discussed in relation to intestinal lipid digestion and absorption.