Abstract
Dr. Robert K. Crane made major contributions to our understanding of carbohydrate metabolism and transport of the intestine over a very long and productive career. This Perspective examines, briefly, his early life and academic positions, but more importantly, this Perspective highlights his contributions to the understanding of coupled Na+-glucose absorption by the small intestine. I discuss how his early hypothesis of a “cotransport” of sodium and glucose ushered in and provided the physiological explanation for the clinical treatment of acute diarrhea and cholera when using oral rehydration therapy (ORT). ORT saves millions of lives each year. Certainly, humankind is better off because of Crane's hypothesis of the Na+-glucose cotransporter that he put forth over 50 years ago?
Highlights
Earl Sutherland and Christian de Duve were working in Cori’s Department, with de Duve closely working with the Coris’ as a visiting Rockefellar Foundation fellow (Christie and Tansey, 2000)
Crane was the first to champion the concept of the “cotransport hypothesis” in coupling of glucose absorption with Na+ transport for epithelial cells of the small intestine at international meetings in Prague in 1960 (Crane, 1960, 2010; Crane et al, 1961)
The net movement of Na+ and glucose across the intestinal epithelium contributes to a charge separation and a small osmotic gradient which provides the driving forces for both Cl− absorption via the paracellular pathway, and water absorption via both transcellular and paracellular pathways, separately (Figure 2). This physiological process results in the overall transport of Na+, glucose, Cl−, and water; four key substances needed to reduce the symptoms of acute diarrhea and cholera
Summary
This all began with Crane’s theoretical calculations for how sodium and glucose were transported across the cellular membranes of intestinal epithelial cells ∼10 years before the structure of the cell membrane had been described (Singer and Nicolson, 1972)! The focus of this Perspective is to briefly highlight the life and scientific contributions of Robert Kellogg Crane on the field of carbohydrate transport in intestinal function and implications of his work in the clinical treatment of acute diarrhea. Additional details of Dr Crane’s college and work life up to the early 1960s can be found in Crane (1983).
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