Membrane potential dependency of glutamic acid transport in rabbit jejunal brush-border membrane vesicles: K+ and H+ effects

Hormonal regulation of dipeptide transporter (PepT1) in Caco-2 cells with normal and anoxia/reoxygenation management

AIM: To determine the regulation effects of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) on dipeptide transporter (PepT1) in Caco-2 cells with normal culture and anoxia/reoxygenation injury.

METHODS: A human intestinal cell monolayer (Caco-2) was used as the in vitro model of human small intestine and cephalexin as the model substrate for dipeptide transporter (PepT1). Caco-2 cells grown on Transwell membrane filters were preincubated in the presence of rhGH in the culture medium for 4 d, serum was withdrawn from monolayers for 24 h before each experiment. The transport experiments of cephalexin across apical membromes were then conducted; Caco-2 cells grown on multiple well dishes (24 pore) with normal culture or anoxia/reoxygenation injury were preincubated with rhGH as above and uptake of cephalexin was then measured.

RESULTS: The transport and uptake of cephelaxin across apical membranes of Caco-2 cells after preincubation with rhGH were significantly increased compared with controls (P = 0.045, 0.0223). Also, addition of rhGH at physiological concentration (34 nM) to incubation medium greatly stimulates cephalexin uptake by anoxia/reoxygenation injuried Caco-2 cells (P = 0.0116), while the biological functions of PepT1 in injured Caco-2 cells without rhGH were markedly downregulated. Northern blot analysis showed that the level of PepT1 mRNA of rhGH-treated injured Caco-2 cells was greatly increased compared to controls.

CONCLUSION: The present results of rhGH stimulating the uptake and transport of cephalexin indicated that rhGH greatly upregulates the physiological effects of dipeptide transporters of Caco-2 cells. The alteration in the gene expression may be a mechanism of regulation of PepT1. In addition, Caco-2 cells take up cephalexin by the Proton-dependent dipeptide transporters that closely resembles the transporters present in the intestine. Caco-2 cells represent an ideal cellular model for future studies of the dipeptide transporter.

Both Na+ and Cl- gradients energize NaCl/L-glutamate cotransport in lobster hepatopancreatic brush border membrane vesicles

Previous work with L-[3H]glutamate transport by lobster (Homarus americanus) hepatopancreatic brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) indicated that the transport of this amino acid was stimulated by the presence of both Na+ and Cl- ions in the external medium, however, the specific catalytic or energetic role of each monovalent ion in amino acid transfer was not established (Ahearn and Clay (1987) J. Exp. Biol. 130, 175-191). The present study employs a variety of experimental treatments with this membrane preparation to clarify the nature of the ion dependency in the cotransport process. A zero-trans time course experiment using inwardly-directed transmembrane Na+ or Cl- gradients led to similar transient accumulations of the amino acid above equilibrium values in the presence of equilibrated concentrations of the respective counterions. The uptake overshoots observed in the presence of single ion gradients were significantly increased when gradients of both Na+ and Cl- were used simultaneously. When vesicles were pre-equilibrated with L-[3H]glutamate and either of the monovalent ions, an inwardly-directed gradient of each counterion led to the transient accumulation of additional labelled amino acid above its equilibrium concentration, indicating that either ion gradient was capable of energizing the net flow of L-glutamate. A cotransport stoichiometry of 1 Na+/1 Cl-/1 L-glutamate was established using the Static Head analysis where a balance of ion and amino acid driving forces were attained with a 7:1 Na+ or Cl- gradient (o greater than i) against a 7:1 L-glutamate gradient (i greater than o).

Endogenous L-glutamate transport in oocytes of Xenopus laevis

The existence of an endogenous Na(+)-glutamate cotransporter in the oocytes of Xenopus laevis is demonstrated. The transporter does not accept D-glutamate as substrate. The dependence on substrate displays two saturating components with low (K1/2 = 9 mM) and high (K1/2 = 0.35 microM) affinities for L-glutamate. The dependence on external Na+ exhibits a saturating component with a K1/2 value of about 5 mM and a component that has not saturated up to 110 mM Na+. In voltage-clamped oocytes, it is possible to demonstrate that Na(+)-dependent L-glutamate transport is directly coupled to countertransport of Rb+. The analysis of the voltage dependence of the Na+,K(+)-dependent L-glutamate uptake suggests that positive charges are moved inwardly during the transport cycle.

Analysis of kinetic data in transport studies: new insights from kinetic studies of Na(+)-D-glucose cotransport in human intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles using a fast sampling, rapid filtration apparatus

Using the fast sampling, rapid filtration apparatus (FSRFA) recently developed in our laboratory (Berteloot et al., 1991, J. Membrane Biol. 122:111-125), we have studied the kinetic characteristics of Na(+)-D-glucose cotransport in brush-border membrane vesicles isolated from normal adult human jejunum. True initial rates of transport have been determined at both 20 and 35 degrees C using a dynamic approach which involves linear-regression analysis over nine time points equally spaced over 4.5 or 2.7 sec, respectively. When the tracer rate of transport was studied as a function of unlabeled substrate concentrations added to the incubation medium, a displacement curve was generated which can be analyzed by nonlinear regression using equations which take into account the competitive inhibition of tracer flux by unlabeled substrate. This approach was made imperative since at 20 degrees C, in the presence of high substrate concentrations or 1 mM phlorizin, no measurable diffusion was found and the resultant zero slope values cannot be expressed into a classical v versus S plot. All together, our results support the existence of a single Na(+)-D-glucose cotransport system in these membranes for which Na+ is mandatory for uptake. This conclusion is at variance with that of a recent report using the same preparation (Harig et al., 1989. Am J. Physiol. 256:8618-8623). Since the discrepancy seems difficult to resolve on the consideration of experimental conditions alone, we have determined the kinetic parameters of D-glucose transport using one time point measurements and linear transformations of the Michaelis-Menten equation, in order to investigate the potential problems of such a widely used procedure. Comparing these approaches, we conclude that: (i) the dynamic uptake measurements give a better understanding of the different uptake components involved: (ii) it does not matter whether a dynamic or a one time point approach is chosen to generate the uptake data provided that a nonlinear-regression analysis with proper weighting of the data points is performed; (iii) analytical procedures which rely on linearization of Michaelian process(es) are endowed with a number of difficulties which make them unsuitable to resolve multicomponent systems in transport studies. A more general procedure which uses a nonlinear-regression analysis and a displacement curve is proposed since we demonstrate that it is far superior in terms of rapidity, data interpretation, and visual information.

Presteady-state kinetics and carrier-mediated transport: a theoretical analysis

Kinetic studies of cotransport mechanisms have so far been limited to the conventional steady-state approach which does not allow in general to resolve either isomerization or rate-limiting steps and to determine the values of the individual rate constants for the elementary reactions involved along a given transport pathway. Such questions can only be answered using presteady-state or relaxation experiments which, for technical reasons, have not yet been introduced into the field of cotransport kinetics. However, since two recent reports seem compatible with the observation of such transient kinetics, it would appear that theoretical studies are needed to evaluate the validity of such claims and to critically evaluate the expectations from a presteady-state approach. We thus report such a study which was performed on a simple four-state mechanism of carrier-mediated transport. The time-dependent equation for zero-trans substrate uptake was thus derived and then extended to models with p intermediary steps. It is concluded that (p-1) exponential terms will describe the approach to the steady state but that such equations have low analytical value since the parameters of the flux equation cannot be expressed in terms of the individual rate constants of the elementary reactions for models with p greater than 5. We thus propose realistic simplifications based on the time-scale separation hypothesis which allows replacement of the rate constants of the rapid steps by their equilibrium constants, thereby reducing the complexity of the kinetic system. Assuming that only one relaxation can be observed, this treatment generates approximate models for which analytical expressions can easily be derived and simulated through computer modeling. When performed on the four-state mechanism of carrier-mediated transport, the simulations demonstrate the validity of the approximate solutions derived according to this hypothesis. Moreover, our approach clearly shows that presteady-state kinetics, should they become applicable to (co)transport kinetics, could be invaluable in determining more precise transport mechanisms.

Anionic amino acid uptake by microvillous membrane vesicles from human placenta

The transport mechanisms for anionic amino acids in trophoblast microvillous (maternal facing) membrane were investigated by characterization of L-[3H]aspartate and L-[3H]glutamate uptake in membrane vesicles. Uptake of the anionic amino acids was by a single high-affinity Na+-dependent K+-stimulated cotransporter that is pH sensitive and electrogenic. A second Na+-dependent transporter could not be discriminated, and there was no observable Na+-independent uptake. An outwardly directed K+ gradient (100 mM KCl inside) resulted in a 5- to 10-fold stimulation in glutamate uptake in the presence of Na+. Intravesicular KCl had no effect on transporter affinity but increased transporter velocity in a concentration-dependent manner. Inhibition of Na+-K+-dependent uptake of L-aspartate and L-glutamate (20 mM, 30 s) by 2 mM unlabeled amino acids demonstrated stereoselectivity for L-glutamate but not for L-aspartate. The neutral amino acids (L-alanine, L-threonine, L-serine, L-cysteine, L-phenylalanine) were not effective inhibitors. These data are consistent with an anionic amino acid transporter in the microvillous membrane of the trophoblast, which has characteristics qualitatively similar to the X-AG system found in other epithelia. This system may mediate the concentrative placental uptake of anionic amino acids from maternal blood in utero.