Phospholipid mediators that exert a physiological action in the digestive tube lumen

Abstract

Much attention has recently been poured on the physiological role of lysoglycerophospholipids that are liberated together with free fatty acids from diradyl-phospholipids in biomembranes. Their metabolic abnormalities that contribute to the progression of life-style related diseases including atherosclerosis have been suggested. In the lumen of digestive tube, both dietary and endogenously secreted phospholipids decomposed to physiologically active lysophosphatidic acid that acts as a signaling molecule to protect the digestive mucosa from harmful stresses. In this review, recent studies on potential protective roles of lysophosphatidic acid on the pathogenesis of periodontitis and gastric ulcer have been presented. In addition, the nutritional value of dietary phospholipids has been re-evaluated from this novel viewpoint.