Liquid Chromatographic Determination of Major Organic Acids in Apple Juice and Cranberry Juice Cocktail: Collaborative Study

Twelve laboratories collaboratively studied a liquid chromatographic method for determination of quinic, malic, and citric acids in cranberry juice cocktail and apple juice. Samples are passed through a disposable silica cartridge, filtered, and directly injected into the chromatograph. The mobile phase is 0.2M KH2PO4 (pH 2.4). Two reverse phase columns are used, with UV detection at 214 nm. Six samples of cranberry juice cocktail and 6 samples of apple juice were sent to each collaborator. Repeatability and reproducibility coefficients of variation ranged from 1.2 to 7.6% and from 2.9 to 14.7%, respectively, for quinic, malic, and citric acid levels above 0.10%. The precision of the method is satisfactory. The method has been adopted official first action.

Active chloride secretion in the normal human jejunum

To determine whether the small intestine normally secretes fluid, it would be necessary to reduce or inhibit the greater absorptive processes that would otherwise mask such secretion if present. To do this, we perfused bicarbonate-free solutions in the jejunum of normal subjects, because it has been shown that active absorption from this part of the human small intestine is dependent on luminal bicarbonate. We found that the jejunum did secrete sodium chloride and water when isotonic bicarbonate-free solutions were perfused. Further studies revealed that the sodium secretion was passive, but that chloride was secreted against an electrochemical gradient and that observed chloride flux ratios did not agree with the flux ratios calculated for passive chloride movement. We conclude, therefore, that the normal jejunum actively secretes chloride, but that this is masked by greater absorptive processes when balanced electrolyte solutions are perfused. The rate of this active chloride secretion may be one of the factors that regulate the rate of fluid absorption in the normal human intestine.

Effect of 1,25-(OH)2D3 on jejunal absorption of magnesium in patients with chronic renal disease

These studies were performed to see if jejunal malabsorption of magnesium in patients with chronic renal disease was influenced by therapy with 1 alpha, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3; 2 microgram/day by mouth for 7 days]. This treatment restored normal serum concentrations of the vitamin D metabolite from 0.9 +/- 0.2 to 4.2 +/- 0.6 ng/dl. Jejunal absorption of magnesium, measured by a triple-lumen constant-perfusion technique, was enhanced in each of the seven patients by this therapy. The mean value rose from 0.04 +/- 0.02 to 0.13 +/- 0.02 mmol . 30 cm-1 . h-1. This last value is similar to the magnesium absorption rate in untreated normal subjects. These results demonstrate that magnesium absorption in the human jejunum is dependent on vitamin D, and they show that 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 therapy in patients with chronic renal failure is associated with an enhanced jejunal absorption of magnesium.

Selective jejunal hyperabsorption of calcium in absorptive hypercalciuria

Calcium absorption in the jejunum and ileum of patients with absorptive hypercalciuria was studied by in vivo intestinal perfusion. Net calcium absorption in the jejunum was markedly increased at four luminal calcium concentrations (1 to 20 mM) in the patients with absorptive hypercalciuria when compared to that in normal subjects. In the ileum, net calcium absorption was only slightly increased in the patients with absorptive hypercalciuria. Experiments with radioactive calcium (47Ca) revealed increased unidirectional flux out of the jejunal lumen in the patients but no difference in the unidirectional flux into the lumen, when compared to that in normal control subjects. Net magnesium absorption was normal in the patients. These results suggest that hyperabsorption of calcium in patients with absorptive hypercalciuria is mainly due to enhanced calcium transport in the jejunum and that the defect is specific for calcium since magnesium is absorbed normally.

Effect of sodium, mannitol, and magnesium on glucose, galactose, 3-O-methylglucose, and fructose absorption in the human ileum

Although it is generally agreed that active sugar absorption in vitro is absolutely dependent on the presence of sodium ions on the luminal side of the mucosa, previous in vivo studies in the ileum of rat, dog and man have shown that active glucose absorption is almost as rapid from a sodium-free mannitol solution as from a sodium chloride solution. These experiments were performed in hopes of reconciling this discreptancy. Absorption of three actively transported sugars (glucose, galactose, and 3-O-methylglucose) having different apparent Km's, and of fructose (absorbed by a separate carrier-mediated process) were measured in the human ileum in vivo. The following observations were made: (1) Mannitol substitution for sodium results in only a slight reduction (23%) in the active absorption of glucose. (2) Magnesium substitution for sodium results in a greater depression (45%) of glucose absorption. (3) The apparent Km for glucose absorption is increased when sodium is replaced by magnesium, but the Vmax is not altered. (4) Magnesium does not depress glucose absorption or the apparent Km for glucose transport when sodium is present in the perfusing solution. (5) Neither sodium removal nor magnesium has any effect on fructose absorption. (6) Absorption of galactose and 3-O-methylglucose (low affinity sugars for the glucose carrier) is reduced by about 40 to 50% when mannitol replaces sodium, but magnesium substitution for mannitol in a sodium-free medium does not further depress absorption of these sugars. The following conclusions are suggested by these results: First, part of the discrepancy between previous in vitro and in vivo experiments was due to the type of test sugar (glucose versus glucose analogue) and the solute used to replace sodium in the luminal solution. Second, magnesium is more effective than mannitol in reducing sodium concentration at the glucose transport site on the brush border. Third, luminal sodium ions have an important effect on active sugar absorption in the human small intestine in vivo, as they do in vitro. And, fourth, there is a component of active sugar absorption (about one-half) which appears to be independent of luminal sodium ions in vivo.