Sodium, potassium, and intestinal transport of glucose, 1-tyrosine, phosphate, and calcium.

Abstract

Everted loops of rat small intestine were incubated in media varying in their concentrations of sodium and potassium. Reduction of sodium concentration was effected by substitution of choline chloride in equimolar amounts for sodium chloride in the saline-bicarbonate buffer. Concentrative transport of glucose, l-tyrosine, inorganic phosphate, and calcium was measured by determination of the final ratio of the concentrations of the solute in serosal and mucosal fluids, and the increment of the solute in serosal fluid during incubation. Ca45 was used as an indicator of calcium distribution. The glucose, l-tyrosine, and inorganic phosphate transport systems require sodium, and at a submaximal concentration of sodium an increased concentration of potassium is inhibitory. The calcium transport system does not require sodium and in loops from the distal small intestine calcium transport is enhanced by reduction of sodium concentration in the medium. It is postulated that there is a common sodium-requiring system which is necessary for the linkage of metabolic energy to glucose, amino acid, and inorganic phosphate transport.