Characteristics of L-glutamine transport in equine jejunal brush border membrane vesicles

Salloum, R.M.; Duckworth, D.; Madison, J.B.; Souba, W.W.

Characteristics of L-glutamine transport in equine jejunal brush border membrane vesicles

1993

Salloum, R.M. | Duckworth, D. | Madison, J.B. | Souba, W.W.

The sodium-dependent transporter system responsible for L-glutamine uptake by brush border membrane vesicles prepared from equine jejunum was characterized. Vesicle purity was ascertained by a 14- to 17-fold increase in activity of the brush border enzyme markers. Glutamine uptake was found to occur into an osmotically active space with negligible membrane binding. The sodium-dependent velocity represented approximately 80% of total uptake and demonstrated overshoots. Kinetic studies of sodium-dependent glutamine transport at concentrations between 5 micromolar and 5 mM revealed a single saturable high-affinity carrier with a Michaelis constant of 519 +/- 90 micromolar and a maximal transport velocity of 3.08 +/- 0.97 nmol/mg of protein/10 s. Glutamine uptake was not affected by changes in environmental pH. Lithium could not substitute for sodium as a contransporter ion. 2-Methylaminoisobutyric acid inhibited the sodium-dependent carrier only minimally, but marked inhibition (> 90%) was observed in the presence of histidine, alanine, cysteine, and nonradioactive glutamine. Kinetic analysis of the sodium-independent transporter revealed it to have a Michaelis constant = 260 +/- 47 micromolar and a maximal transport velocity of 0.32 t 0.06 nmol/mg of protein/10 s. We conclude that glutamine transport in equine jejunal brush border membrane vesicles occurs primarily via the system B transporter and, to a lesser extent, by a sodium-independent carrier.

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