title: Carrier-mediated transport system for cephalexin in human placental brush-border membrane vesicles.
abstract: The uptake of cephalosporin antibiotics, cephalexin, was studied with brush-border microvillous plasma membrane vesicles prepared and purified from human full-term placental syncytiotrophoblasts. The uptake of cephalexin by the membrane vesicles was not stimulated in the presence of an Na+ gradient from the outside to the inside of the vesicles, whereas alpha-(methylamino)isobutyrate uptake into the vesicles of the same preparation was stimulated by an Na+ gradient. The equilibrium level of cephalexin uptake decreased with increasing osmolarity of the medium, which indicates that cephalexin is transported into the membrane vesicles. When cephalexin concentrations were varied, the initial rate of uptake obeyed Michaelis-Menten kinetics with Km and Vmax values of 2.29 mM and 2.98 nmol/mg of protein per 60 s, respectively. The uptake of cephalexin was inhibited by structural analogues and sulfhydryl modifying reagents. These results indicate the existence of a carrier-mediated transport system for cephalexin in the human placental brush-border membranes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Hiroshima University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kudo
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Urabe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
mesh_terms: D001693:Biological Transport, Active / Q000187:drug effects; D002506:Cephalexin / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D008871:Microvilli / Q000378:metabolism; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D010920:Placenta / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012964:Sodium / Q000494:pharmacology; D013439:Sulfhydryl Reagents / Q000494:pharmacology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D013439:Sulfhydryl Reagents; D012964:Sodium; D002506:Cephalexin