Vitamin D and enterocyte brush border membrane calcium transport and fluidity in the rat

Role of transcellular pathway in ileal Ca2+ absorption: stimulation by low-Ca2+ diet

The present study was performed to determine the respective involvement of the cellular and paracellular routes in ileal Ca2+ transport. Two groups of rats were either fed a normal Ca2+ diet (1. 0%) or a Ca2+-deficient diet (0.02%) for 14 days. Ileal Ca2+ absorption was determined using both an in situ method of continuous luminal perfusion and an in vitro method (Ussing chamber model). The low-Ca2+ diet stimulated net Ca2+ flux in the ileum twofold, associated with a twofold increase of the mucosal-to-serosal Ca2+ flux in both models. This effect was observed in the absence of concomitant changes in Na+ or water flux in the in situ model or mannitol flux in the in vitro model, excluding the participation of the paracellular pathway in Ca2+ transport. Thus only cellular Ca2+ flux was stimulated. These data suggest that the ileum plays a major role in the adaptation to low dietary Ca2+. Whereas under physiological conditions with usual Ca2+ intakes the transcellular pathway of Ca2+ transport is negligible, it becomes of major importance in the case of Ca2+ deficiency, at least under the present conditions of severe Ca2+ deprivation.

Calcium metabolism, osteoporosis and essential fatty acids: a review

Essential fatty acid (EFA)-deficient animals develop severe osteoporosis coupled with increased renal and arterial calcification. This picture is similar to that seen in osteoporosis in the elderly, where the loss of bone calcium is associated with ectopic calcification of other tissues, particularly the arteries and the kidneys. Recent mortality studies indicate that the ectopic calcification may be considerably more dangerous than the osteoporosis itself, since the great majority of excess deaths in women with osteoporosis are vascular and unrelated to fractures or other bone abnormalities. EFAs have now been shown to increase calcium absorption from the gut, in part by enhancing the effects of vitamin D, to reduce urinary excretion of calcium, to increase calcium deposition in bone and improve bone strength and to enhance the synthesis of bone collagen. These desirable actions are associated with reduced ectopic calcification. The interaction between EFA and calcium metabolism deserves further investigation since it may offer novel approaches to osteoporosis and also to the ectopic calcification associated with osteoporosis which seems to be responsible for so many deaths.

Effects of diabetes on calcium uptake by rat brush border membrane vesicles

1. We investigated the mechanism of decreased transmucosal calcium transport in the gut of the diabetic rat by comparing calcium uptake by brush border membrane vesicles from control and streptozotocin diabetic rats at 5 days. Brush border calcium uptake consists of saturable and non-saturable components. Saturable uptake is mediated by a specific mobile carrier mechanism and is defined by Vmax (saturable uptake of calcium at infinite medium calcium concentration) and KT (calcium concentration at Vmax/2). Non-saturable uptake is defined by kD (rate constant for non-saturable uptake per unit calcium concentration), and comprises both diffusive and surface binding components of calcium uptake. 2. We found both saturable and non-saturable calcium uptake to be decreased (P < 0.05) in diabetes. Comparing control and diabetic, Vmax was 247 compared to 152 (data are pmol/mg protein per 3 s); kD was 285 compared to 172 (data are pmol/mg protein per 3 s at 1 mmol/L calcium); and KT (mmol/L) did not differ between groups, 0.070 compared to 0.057. 3. The decreased Vmax in the setting of unchanged KT in vesicles from diabetics is consistent with decreased calcium transporter specific activity, rather than with altered transporter function. 4. Since (i) Vmax is decreased by vitamin D deficiency in the normal rat, and (ii) circulating 1 alpha, 25-dihydroxycholecalciferol is decreased in the diabetic rat, decreased Vmax in the diabetic may be related to the low 1 alpha,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Surface charge, fluidity, and calcium uptake by rat intestinal brush-border vesicles

Biological membrane outer surfaces are negatively charged and interact with positively charged calcium ion during calcium uptake. Positively charged polycations such as polyarginine bind to membranes with high affinity, displacing bound calcium from the membrane. We tested the effect of polyarginine on uptake of calcium by brush-border membrane vesicles and examined the responses in terms of membrane fluidity by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Polyarginine inhibited the saturable component of calcium uptake by a mechanism combining inhibition characteristics of strontium (competitive) and magnesium (non-competitive). Unlike the inhibition of non-saturable calcium uptake by strontium and magnesium, polyarginine increased kD, the rate constant for non-saturable calcium uptake, by a concentration dependent mechanism. These effects of polyarginine on calcium uptake were associated with decreased membrane fluidity at the uptake temperature. These findings are consistent with a role for surface negative charge in determining both saturable and non-saturable calcium uptake. Increased membrane fluidity is associated with decreased saturable and increased non-saturable calcium uptake. Although increased fluidity might be involved in the increased kD for non-saturable uptake, the concentration-specific stimulating effect of polyarginine suggests a gating mechanism.