Dietary and Endogenous Long-Chain Fatty Acids in the Intestine of Sheep, with an Appendix on Their Estimation in Feeds, Bile, and Faeces

Normal sheep and sheep with fistulae of the bile duct or the thoracic duct were used to provide quantitative information on the movement of fatty acids into and out of the intestine. The operation used to gain access to the thoracic duct did not cause any significant alteration in the absorption of either [14C]tripalmitin injected into the rumen or [14C]palmitic acid injected into the duodenum. Normal sheep absorbed the major fatty acids oleic (92'1�1'3%), palmitic (87�3�5�0%), and stearic acids (93' 3� 1� 4%) with almost equal efficiency, and the absorption of labelled tri-palmitin injected into the rumen did not alter as the intake of fatty acids increased from 12g/day (90�1�2�3%) to 44g/day (90�1�1�3%).