In vitro uptake of -carotene by human exfoliated colonic epithelial cells

摘要

The possible use of isolated exfoliated colonic epithelial cells in culture as an in vitro model to study the uptake of vitamin A and -carotene was tested. Freshly isolated exfoliated cells maintained in culture take up -carotene in a concentration-dependent manner. The uptake was found to increase in the presence of primary bile acids such as deoxy cholate, lipids such as triolein and lecithin in a concentration-dependent manner. These results suggest that exfoliated colonic epithelial cells isolated from stool samples of human subjects can be maintained in culture and serve as a useful non-invasive system to study the bioavailability of vitamin A and provitamin A carotenoids.