Summary
The interactions between monosacharides and amino-acids for transport by the small intestine have been studied. The experimental approach was specifically designed to try to resolve the controversy concerning the mechanism of such interactions and included a comparative study involving five mammalian species, namely the hamster, the mouse, the guinea-pig, the rat and the rabbit. The results, showing quantitative but no important qualitative differences between the species, provide strong support for the hypothesis that there is an allosteric interaction between the two groups of compounds at the surface of the brush border membrane due to the proximity of their respective binding sites. This theory, which was originally formulated on kinetic evidence obtained with the hamster intestine, is now supported by the following results: The uptake of amino-acids by intestinal rings of all species tested is inhibited by monosaccharides that are substrates for the hexose transport mechanism during short-term incubations. As a corollary, the uptake of sugars is inhibited by neutral amino-acids, but their inhibitory power shows no correlation with their affinities for their own transport mechanism. A stimulation of efflux of amino-acids preloaded into the tissue of everted sacs can be elicited across the brush border by addition of sugars to the bathing medium. The reverse experiment has also been successfully performed. This “counter-transport” effect has been shown to occur in all five species, though it is difficult to demonstrate in the rat, for practical, and perhaps functional, reasons. Additional experiments have also been performed with the specific aim of refuting other theories concerning the mode of interaction between sugars and amino-acids in the small intestine.
Zusammenfassung
Die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Monosacchariden und Aminosäuren für den Transport im Dünndarm wurden studiert. Die Versuche wurden speziell geplant, um die Streitfrage bezüglich des Mechanismus solcher Wechselwirkungen zu klären und enthielten Vergleichsstudien von fünf Säugetieren, nämlich Goldhamster, Mäuse, Meerschweinchen, Ratten und Kaninchen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten quantitative, aber keine bedeutenden qualitativen Unterschiede zwischen den Tierarten, aber unterstützten überwältigend die Hypothese, daß sich eine allosterische Wechselwirkung zwischen den zwei Substraten Gruppen an der Oberfläche der Bürstensaum-Membran wegen der Nähe ihrer respektiven Bindungsstellen befindet. Die Theorie, die ursprünglich durch kinetische, mit Hamster-Dünndarm gewonnene Nachweise formuliert wurde, wird jetzt durch folgende Resultate bestärkt: Während kurzfristiger Inkubation wurde die Aminosäureaufnahme in den Dünndarmstückchen aller geprüften Tierarten durch Monosacchariden, welche Substrate für den Hexose-Transport-Mechanismus sind, gehemmt. Die Zuckeraufnahme wurde ebenfalls durch neutrale Aminosäure gehemmt, ihre Hemmungseffekte korrelierten jedoch nicht mit ihren Affinitäten für ihre eigenen Transport-Mechanismen. Austausch-Transport von im Gewebe von “Everted-Sacs” vorbeladenen Aminosäuren kann durch den Bürstensaum verursacht werden, wenn Zucker zu der Inkubationslösung hinzugefügt wird. Der umgekehrte Versuch wurde ebenfalls mit Erfolg durchgeführt. Dieser Austausch-Transport ist bei allen fünf Tierarten nachgewiesen worden, obwohl es bei der Ratte aus praktischen und vielleicht funktionellen Gründen schwer zu demonstrieren war. Weitere Versuche sind durchgeführt worden, um ausdrücklich die anderen Theorien bezüglich des Mechanismus der Wechselwirkungen zwischen Aminosäuren und Zuckern beim Dünndarmtransport zu widerlegen.
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Robinson, J.W.L., Alvarado, F. Interaction between the sugar and amino-acid transport systems at the small intestinal brush border: A comparative study. Pflugers Arch. 326, 48–75 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00586794
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00586794
Key-Words
- Counten-Transport
- Active Transport
- Comparative Physiology
- Amino-Acid and Sugar Transport
- Interactions between Transport Mechanisms