Fecal excretion, uptake and metabolism by colon mucosa of diacylglycerol in rats.

In a previous paper we demonstrated that human fecal bacteria can convert phosphatidylcholine to diacylglycerol (DAG), an activator of protein kinase C. The present study demonstrates that several foods contain appreciable levels of DAG, especially certain vegetable oils. On the other hand, when rats were administered [14C]-labeled DAG by intragastric intubation less than 0.1% of the administered radioactivity was recovered as DAG in the feces. Thus only negligible amounts of dietary DAG actually reach the colon. When [14C]DAG was injected directly into ligated segments of rat colon we found appreciable uptake of the intact DAG by the mucosal cells. The major metabolite was arachidonic acid, suggesting that the DAG lipase pathway is more active than the DAG kinase pathway in these cells. Taken together, these results are consistent with our hypothesis that much of the DAG present in the colonic lumen is produced by the intestinal bacteria and that this DAG can actually enter the colonic mucosal cells, where it might influence their function.