Arbutin absorption in human small intestine: A simple procedure for the determination of active sugar uptake in peroral biopsy specimens

Abstract Alvarado and Crane have shown that the uptake of arbutin (the β-glucoside of hydroquinone) in the small intestine of hamster, chicken and rat occurs by the same pathway as that of Na + -dependent sugar. In this paper we describe in detail a procedure for the determination of arbutin uptake in human small-intestinal peroral biopsy specimens. The procedure is simple to perform and does not require radioactive substrates. The normal values are reported. Arbutin uptake is correlated with the morphological state of the mucosa in the specimen.