Abstract
THE question routinely arises as to whether a given fluid secretion process is active, in the sense that the driving force is created by the epithelial cells at the expense of metabolic energy, or passive, that is, with the epithelium acting simply as a resistance to externally provided driving forces. This definition of active transport includes water transfer secondary to active solute transport. The purpose of this communication is to suggest a simple experimental in vivo procedure which can provide strong evidence that the process is active, and to describe examples of its application to the study of three types of intestinal secretion.
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LIFSONN, N., BLACKWOOD, W. Criterion for Active Fluid Secretion in vivo. Nature New Biology 246, 236–237 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio246236a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio246236a0
