title: Amino acid specificity of the Na+/alanine cotransporter in pancreatic acinar cells.
abstract: The method of tight-seal whole-cell recording was used to study the amino-acid specificity of the Na+/alanine cotransporter in pancreatic acinar cells. Single cells or small clusters of electrically coupled cells were obtained by enzymatic dissociation of mouse pancreas. Inward currents were measured under 'zero-trans' conditions, i.e., at finite concentrations of Na+ and amino acid at the extracellular side and vanishing concentrations at the cytoplasmic side. The cotransporter, which corresponds to 'system A', as previously defined in the literature, was found to exhibit a wide tolerance to neutral amino acids (L-cysteine, L-serine, L-alanine, glycine, L-phenylalanine). Competition experiments with 2-methylaminoisobutyric acid (MeAIB) indicate that for glycine a second electrogenic transport system exists in pancreatic acinar cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, F.R.G.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Von Blankenfeld
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jauch
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000378:metabolism*; D026905:Amino Acid Transport Systems; D026921:Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D010179:Pancreas / Q000378:metabolism*; D015222:Sodium Channels / Q000378:metabolism*; D027981:Symporters
chemical_list: D026905:Amino Acid Transport Systems; D026921:Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral; D000596:Amino Acids; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D015222:Sodium Channels; D027981:Symporters; C052168:sodium-alanine cotransporter; D000409:Alanine