CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Liver Fatty Acid Binding Protein (L-FABP) participates in different cell processes in the enterocyte Falomir Lockhart LJ, Rodriguez Sawicki L, Franchini GR, Storch J, Córsico B Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata (CONICET-UNLP), Fac. de Cs. Médicas, La Plata. The intestine assimilates and processes a large quantity of lipids incorporated with the diet. Lipids are absorbed mainly as free fatty acids (FA), cholesterol and monoacylglicerol to be then reesterified inside the enterocytes and secreted as Quilomicrons into the lymph. The classical functions attributed to FABP are as cytosolic buffer and transporter of hydrophobic ligands. Nevertheless, new functions have been suggested related to control of gene expression. It is suggested that intestinal FABP would facilitate the intracellular transport of FA and that they could also have a role in the regulation of lipid metabolism and other cellular processes. In this work we obtained an L-FABP knock-down model in Caco-2 cells by anti-mRNA overexpression. We analyzed the effect on the assimilation, metabolism and secretion of FA as well as on the cellular proliferation and differentiation processes. No compensation by I-FABP was observed in differentiated cells. Knock-down clones showed a marked decrease in oleate assimilation, while palmitate assimilation was increased. Differences in oleate distribution were observed at short times, but they disappeared after hours and no change in oleate distribution was observed in secreted lipids. On the other hand, cell proliferation and differentiation were slowed. These results indicate that L-FABP is an important factor of enterocyte functionality.