Alternate models for shared carriers or a single maturing carrier in hexose uptake into rabbit jejunum in vitro

Abstract The uptake (tissue accumulation) of three hexoses into rabbit jejuum was measured in a flux chamber in conditions of effective stirring. Glucose uptake was inhibited by galactose or 3- O -methylglucose: 1–40 mM galactose caused a progressive decline in glucose uptake; 1–5 mM 3- O -methylglucose inhibited glucose uptake but higher concentrations of 3- O -methylglucose had no further effect. When 1–40 mM 3- O -methylglucose was added to glucose plus galactose there was a further decrease in the uptake of glucose; adding 1–40 mM galactose to glucose plus 3- O -methylglucose also produced a decrease in glucose uptake. Both glucose and 3- O -methylglucose inhibited uptake of galactose but the pattern of inhibition varied between the two sugars. The uptake of 3- O -methylglucose was also inhibited by glucose and by galactose, but the uptake of 3- O -methylglucose in the presence of either galactose or glucose was no further reduced by adding the third hexose. Graphical analysis and analysis by non-linear regression both showed that neither the single Michaelis-Menten function, nor the single Michaelis-Menten-plus-competitive-inhibition function was appropriate for any of these data. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that either there are multiple (at least three) intestinal carriers for hexoses; alternatively that there is a single carrier whose transport properties for the three hexoses change differentially during cell maturation and migration up the villus.