THE DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION OF FAT IN LAMELLIBRANCHS

¹ Department of Anatomy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Emulsions of olive oil and peanut oil stained with Sudan stains were fed to oysters and mussels and mixed with mince of crystalline styles and other structures. Samples of the experimental material were subsequently examined to determine if the fat was absorbed and how, and counterstained with Nile blue sulphate to determine if the neutral fat had been split to fatty acid and glycerine. The following observations and conclusions resulted:

1. Free droplets of neutral fat are hydrolyzed in the stomach.

2. Droplets of the stained fat in the form of fatty acid appeared in large numbers in the ciliated epithelium of the stomach and ducts of the digestive gland. None was found in the non-ciliated epithelium of the alveoli of the digestive gland.

3. Droplets of the emulsion were ingested by leucocytes in the lumen of the gut. Neutral fat in leucocytes was hydrolyzed. There was no certain evidence of the passage of any leucocytes with ingested fat back into the blood spaces or tissues.

4. Emulsion injected into the cavity of the heart or mixed in hanging drops of blood was ingested by leucocytes. Hydrolysis occurred within blood cells. No evidence was found for the hydrolysis of neutral fat by the plasma.

5. Tests of stained emulsion subjected to the influence of minced styles showed hydrolysis of neutral fat in all cases.

6. Emulsion subjected to the influence of minced digestive gland was positive for the hydrolysis of neutral fat in some species, but not in others.

7. No evidence for deposition of stained fat in the tissues was found. Possible explanations are suggested.

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