The contribution of solvent drag to the intestinal absorption of tritiated water and urea from the jejunum of the rat

Abstract

1. Jejunal loops of anaesthetized rats were perfused with hypotonic, isotonic, and hypertonic buffered solutions containing tritiated water or 14C-labelled urea. The blood flow of the loop was maintained constant at an intermediate rate (0.8–0.9 ml min−1 g−1 wet tissue weight). The water net flux was determined by means of polyethylene glycol as nonabsorbable marker and amounted up to ±30 μl min−1 g−1 w. w. 2. A positive water net flux (directed towards the blood) increased the absorption rates (disappearance rate from the intestinal lumen, appearance rate in the intestinal venous blood) of tritiated water and urea by maximally 22 and 41%, a negative water net flux (directed towards the gut lumen) diminished it by 12 and 32%. 3. The data were analysed by means of a kinetic model with the water net flux as independent variable. The sieving coefficient ⧫=1-δ was 1.18±0.44 for tritiated water and 0.86±0.11 for urea at pH 6.2. The water net flux influenced the absorption of solutes by interaction within the membranes (solvent drag in a restricted sense) and by changing the volume of blood flowing in the capillaries near the epithelium. This last effect is large for the absorption of the rapidly absorbable tritiated water, but small for the absorption of urea which is absorbed ten-times slower. 4. The water net flux in the intestine depended linearly on the osmotic pressure difference between lumen and blood. The hydraulic permeability was 146–180 ml2 min−1 g−1 osm−1.