Intestinal mucosal hydrolysis of proteins and peptides

Structural specificity of mucosal-cell transport and metabolism of peptide drugs: implication for oral peptide drug delivery

The brush border membrane of intestinal mucosal cells contains a peptide carrier system with rather broad substrate specificity and various endo- and exopeptidase activities. Small peptide (di-/tripeptide)-type drugs with or without an N-terminal alpha-amino group, including beta-lactam antibiotics and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, are transported by the peptide transporter. Polypeptide drugs are hydrolyzed by brush border membrane proteolytic enzymes to di-/tripeptides and amino acids. Therefore, while the intestinal brush border membrane has a carrier system facilitating the absorption of di-/tripeptide drugs, it is a major barrier limiting oral availability of polypeptide drugs. In this paper, the specificity of peptide transport and metabolism in the intestinal brush border membrane is reviewed.

Maintenance of an aminopeptidase allele frequency cline by natural selection

The product of the Lap locus in the marine bivalve Mytilus edulis is a neutral, membrane-associated aminopeptidase that is primarily localized on intestinal microvilli and in digestive cell lysosomes. Natural populations are genetically differentiated at the Lap locus between areas of differing salinity. A steep (0.55-0.15) allele frequency cline connects differentiated populations between the Atlantic Ocean and Long Island Sound. We demonstrate an annual gene flow/mortality cycle in cline populations whereby gene frequencies after mortality are correlated with salinity and enzyme activity. The cline is spatially and temporally unstable in immigrants, but stable in residents after mortality. Mortality is nonrandom with regard to the Lap locus; genotype-dependent properties of the aminopeptidase enzyme apparently led to a differential rate of the utilizaiton of nutrient reserves because selected genotypes exhibited an increased rate of tissue weight loss. Aminopeptidase genotypes are differentially adapted to different temperatures and salinities, which provides a mechanism for the relationship among biochemical, physiological, and population phenotypes.