title: Pulmonary absorption of amino acids in the rat: evidence of carrier transport.
abstract: To investigate the absorption of nonmetabolized amino acids from the rat lung, 0.1 ml of Krebs-Ringer phosphate solution containing either 14C-labeled 1-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid (cycloleucine) or alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) was administered to anesthetized animals by way of a catheter introduced through a tight-fitting tracheal cannula. After various times, lungs were removed and assayed for the amount of amino acid that remained. Cycloleucine appeared to be absorbed by a combination of at least two processes: saturable carrier-type transport and a nonsaturable process. The saturable process was inhibited to varying degrees by a number of L- and D-amino acids but not by D-ornithine, betaine, 3-O-methyl-D-glucose, phenol red, disodium cromoglycate, or tetraethylammonium. The nonsaturable process appeared to be too rapid to be accounted for by diffusion alone, thus suggesting interaction with a second carrier system of high capacity. Although AIB was a weak inhibitor of cycloleucine transport, it appeared to be absorbed solely by a nonsaturable process at a rate consistent with diffusion through aqueous membrane channels.
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D000621:Aminoisobutyric Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001693:Biological Transport, Active; D003515:Cycloleucine / Q000378:metabolism; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D012995:Solubility
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D000621:Aminoisobutyric Acids; D003515:Cycloleucine; D008715:Methionine