Interdependence of albumin and sodium transport in the foetal and new-born pig intestine

Abstract

1. Everted sacs of new-born pig intestines incubated in bicarbonate saline at 37 degrees C, transferred bovine plasma albumin across the mucosa into fluid bathing the serosa, the amount transferred increasing as the concentration of albumin in the mucosal fluid was raised from 0.5 to 16 g/100 ml.2. The rate of albumin transfer across the foetal pig intestine showed an apparent maximum, about 400 mug/g intestine/hr, 2 weeks before birth. The transfer at birth, about 200 mug/g intestine/hr, fell sharply during the next 2 days but later returned to that previously found at birth.3. When sacs were prepared from the intestines of 1 to 7-day-old pigs part of the recovered albumin was degraded. No digestion was found when the intestines of new-born or foetal pigs were used.4. The transfer of water and sodium, but not glucose, measured across the foetal and new-born pig intestine, was consistently higher when albumin was present in the mucosal fluid: the transmural potential difference was lowered by the presence of albumin. These differences disappeared during the first 2 days of life.5. Both the total and ouabain-sensitive adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activities of the pig intestinal epithelium fell within 24 hr of birth. There was some increase in total ATPase activity in older pigs but the ouabain-sensitive activity remained low.6. The relation between albumin and sodium transport, seen at a time when albumin is not being metabolized, suggests that the transfers are closely coupled. The movement of sodium into a mucosal cell down its own concentration gradient may provide energy for the translocation of albumin.