Esterolytic activities of rat intestinal mucosa. 1. Characterization, cellular distribution and subcellular localization of a glycerol-ester hydrolase.

The preferential cellular distribution in the villus tip and the subcellular localization in the endoplasmic reticulum of an intestinal glycerol-ester hydrolase from rat mucosa are described. The enzyme is shown not to be from either pancreatic or bacterial origin; it catalyzes the hydrolysis of short- and medium chain triglycerides and of p-nitrophenylacetate. Contrarily to the specificity found for the pig intestinal lipase (Serrero, Négrel and Ailhaud, 1975), no activity is detectable against acylCoA; a thiolester hydrolase different from the glycerol-ester hydrolase was demonstrated after differential solubilization and chromatographic separation. A high proportion of glycerol-ester hydrolase is present in the intestinal lumen; its possible complementary role in lipid degradation is discussed.