Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T01:54:04.170Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Absorption of methionine by foetal and neonatal lamb colon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

M. W. Smith
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Council Institute of Animal Physiology, Babraham, Cambridge CB2 1AT
P. S. James
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Council Institute of Animal Physiology, Babraham, Cambridge CB2 1AT

Summary

Proximal colons taken from foetal and newly born lambs have been shown to actively transport methionine from lumen to blood when incubated under in vitroconditions. The lumen to blood flux of methionine, measured across foetal and early post-natal colons was approximately 25 and 15 times greater than the blood to lumen flux, each flux being determined in the presence of 1 mM methionine.

The ability of the colon to transport methionine decreased with age, there being no net transport across the colon of a 26-day-old lamb. The post-natal disappearance of this transport function appeared to be roughly exponential with a half-time of approximately 2 days.

The short-circuit currents and open-circuit voltages, measured across proximal colons of lambs of different ages, remained stable throughout incubation. The transtissue electrical resistance of colons taken from 9- and 16-day-old lambs was approximately double that recorded across colons taken from younger animals.

These results are discussed both in relation to what is already known concerning amino acid transport in the neonatal pig colon and in relation to what their possible physiological significance might be to normal post-natal development in lambs.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Batt, E. R. & Schachter, D. (1969). Developmental pattern of some intestinal transport mechanisms in newborn rats and mice. American Journal of Physiology 216, 10641068.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evered, D. F. & Nunn, P. B. (1968). Uptake of amino acids by mucosa of rat colon in vitro. European Journal of Biochemistry 4, 301304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henriques de Jesus, C. & Smith, M. W. (1974). Sodium transport by the small intestine of new-born and suckling pigs. Journal of Physiology 243, 211224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holdsworth, C. D. & Wilson, T. H. (1967). Development of active sugar and amino acid transport in the yolk sac and intestine of the chicken. American Journal of Physiology 212, 233240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, P. S. & Smith, M. W. (1976). Methionine transport by pig colonic mucosa measured during early post-natal development. Journal of Physiology 262, 151168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, P. S., Smith, M. W. & Wooding, F. B. P. (1976). Time-dependent changes in methionine transport across the helicoidal colon of the new-born pig. Journal of Physiology 257, 3839P.Google ScholarPubMed
Jarvis, L. G., Morqan, G., Smith, M. W. & Wooding, F. B. P. (1977). Cell replacement and changing transport function in the neonatal pig colon. Journal of Physiology 273, 717729.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krebs, H. A. & Henseleit, K. (1932). Untersuchungen uber die Harnstoffbildung im Tierkörper. Hoppe-Seyler's Zeitschrift für physiologische Chemie 210, 3366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerner, J., Sattelmeyer, P. & Rush, R. (1975). Kinetics of methionine influx into various regions of the chicken intestine. Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology 50A, 113120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, J. W. L., Luisier, A. -L. & Mirkovitch, V. (1973). Transport of amino acids and sugars by dog colonic mucosa. Pflügers Archiv. European Journal of Physiology 345, 317326.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, M. W. (1976). Sodium transport by the newborn pig intestine: functional changes during the first few days of postnatal life. In Intestinal Ion Transport (ed. Robinson, J. W. L.), pp. 213231. MTP Press Ltd.: Lancaster, Lancs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M. W. & James, P. S. (1976). Amino acid transport by the helicoidal colon of the new-born pig. Biochimica et biophysica acta 419, 391394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed