Active Absorption of Glucose from the Intestine

Abstract

GLUCOSE disappeared rapidly from the lumen of an isolated loop of rat intestine, immersed in tyrode at 37° C. and aerated by a mixture of oxygen and 5 per cent carbon dioxide. This occurred even when the solutions (tyrode containing 200–800 mgm. per cent glucose) within the loop and surrounding the loop were identical, so that no concentration gradient of glucose existed between the inner and outer solution. The rate of uptake of glucose, during the first 15–30 min., was of the same order of magnitude as that found during resorption in vivo from similar solutions. With other sugars, the uptake was related to their rate of resorption in the intact animal. Phlorrhizin inhibited absorption of glucose in vitro as well as in vivo. It therefore seemed probable that we were dealing with ‘active absorption’ when using such a preparation.