T1R taste receptors are present throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Glucose absorption comprises active absorption via SGLT1 and facilitated absorption via GLUT2 in the apical membrane. Trafficking of apical GLUT2 is rapidly up-regulated by glucose and artificial sweeteners, which act through T1R2 + T1R3/α-gustducin to activate PLC β2 and PKC βII. We therefore investigated whether non-sugar nutrients are regulated by taste receptors using perfused rat jejunum in vivo. Under different conditions, we observed a Ca 2+ -dependent reciprocal relationship between the H + /oligopeptide transporter PepT1 and apical GLUT2, reflecting the fact that trafficking of PepT1 and GLUT2 to the apical membrane is inhibited and activated by PKC βII, respectively. Addition of l-glutamate or sucralose to a perfusate containing low glucose (20 mm) each activated PKC βII and decreased apical PepT1 levels and absorption of the hydrolysis-resistant dipeptide l-Phe( S)-l-Ala (1 mm), while increasing apical GLUT2 and glucose absorption within minutes. Switching perfusion from mannitol to glucose (75 mm) exerted similar effects. l-Glutamate induced rapid GPCR internalization of T1R1, T1R3 and transducin, whereas sucralose internalized T1R2, T1R3 and α-gustducin. We conclude that l-glutamate acts via amino acid and glucose via sweet taste receptors to coordinate regulation of PepT1 and apical GLUT2 reciprocally through a common enterocytic pool of PKC βII. These data suggest the existence of a wider Ca 2+ and taste receptor-coordinated transport network incorporating other nutrients and/or other stimuli capable of activating PKC βII and additional transporters, such as the aspartate/glutamate transporter, EAAC1, whose level was doubled by l-glutamate. The network may control energy supply.

By building key structural features into hydrophilic drugs, they can be recognized by the PepT1 transporter system of the small intestine and rendered orally active. The model shown provides, for the first time, a 3D template for all known substrates of PepT1.

4-Aminophenylacetic acid (4-APAA), a peptide mimic lacking a peptide bond, has been shown to interact with a proton-coupled oligopeptide transporter using a number of different experimental approaches. In addition to inhibiting transport of labeled peptides, these studies show that 4-APAA is itself translocated.4-APAA transport across the rat intact intestine was stimulated 18-fold by luminal acidification (to pH 6.8) as determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); in enterocytes isolated from mouse small intestine the intracellular pH was reduced on application of 4-APAA, as shown fluorimetrically with the pH indicator carboxy-SNARF; 4-APAA trans-stimulated radiolabeled peptide transport in brush-border membrane vesicles isolated from rat renal cortex; and in Xenopus oocytes expressing PepT1, 4-APAA produced trans-stimulation of radiolabeled peptide efflux, and as determined by HPLC, was a substrate for translocation by this transporter.These results with 4-APAA show for the first time that the presence of a peptide bond is not a requirement for rapid translocation through the proton-linked oligopeptide transporter (PepT1). Further investigation will be needed to determine the minimal structural requirements for a molecule to be a substrate for this transporter.The rapid uptake of intact small peptides across the brushborder membrane of the small intestinal epithelium is the major route for absorption of dietary protein ␣-amino nitrogen (1). Hitherto, it has been thought that a number of chemical features, for example free amino and carboxyl termini, are essential in contributing to substrate interaction with, and translocation through, the intestinal peptide transporter.These features include the presence of a peptide bond within the substrate molecules. Indeed a major review (1) states that "it is the presence of peptide bonds which make di-and tripeptide acceptable to the peptide transport systems." Although previous work (e.g. Ref.2) has shown that molecules lacking this feature can inhibit transport of peptides (presumably by substrate binding), we describe here for the first time rapid transport of a small totally non-peptidic substrate through the intestinal peptide transporter. The substrate, 4-aminophenylacetic acid (4-APAA), 1 was selected on the basis of its chemical structure, it being a potential mimic of a dipeptide (D-Phe-LAla) (Fig. 1) which previously we have shown to be an excellent substrate for epithelial peptide transport (3, 4). EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURESRat renal brush-border membrane vesicles were prepared as described previously (5), and initial rates of labeled peptide transport (influx, efflux) were determined by rapid filtration (4, 6). Rat intestinal loops in vitro and vascularly perfused small intestine in situ were used to measure transepithelial fluxes in the intact small intestine as described previously (3, 7). Luminal pH was changed using a previously published protocol (8). Isolated murine enterocytes were prepared by enzymatic digestion using haluronidase, and i...

Glucose transport and metabolism by rat small intestine was investigated by using a preparation for the combined perfusion of the lumen and the vascular bed. 2. When 5 mM-glucose was present in the lumen, only 29% was transported unchanged to the vascular side. Lactate output into the vascular and luminal fluids accounted for a further 53% and 4% respectively of the glucose taken up from the lumen. 3. Glucose was readily taken up when added at 5 mM to the vascular compartment only. Vascular lactate output accounted for approx. 33% of the glucose uptake, and luminal lactate for 6%. 4. When 2 mM-glucose was added to the lumen with 5 mM-glucose in the vascular perfusate, there was no detectable net transport of glucose to the vascular side. However, of the glucose taken up from the lumen, 31% and 2% could be accounted for by increases in vascular and luminal lactate respectively. 5. When 10 mM-glucose was added to the lumen, with 5 mM-glucose in the vascular perfusate, 33% of the glucose disappearing from the lumen was transported to the vascular side. Extra lactate output to the vascular and lumen perfusates accounted for 50% and 9% respectively of the glucose uptake from the lumen. 6. These studies indicate that at low luminal glucose concentrations no sugar is transferred to the blood unchanged, and at sugar concentrations of 5--10 mM only 25--50% of the glucose leaving the lumen reaches the serosal side intact. Furthermore, the small intestine has a greater propensity to form lactate from luminal glucose than from vascular glucose.

1. 4-Aminomethylbenzoic acid, a molecule which mimics the special configuration of a dipeptide, competitively inhibits peptide influx in both Xenopus Laevis oocytes expressing rabbit PepT1 and through PepT1 in rat renal brush border membrane vesicles. 2. This molecule is not translocated through PepT1 as measured both by direct HPLC analysis in PepT1-exp ressing oocytes and indirectly by its failure to trans-stimulate labelle d peptide efflux through PepT1 in oocytes and in renal membrane vessicle s. 3. However 4-aminiomethylbenzoic acid does reverse trans-stimulation through expressed PepT1 of labelled peptid efflux induced by unlabelled peptide. Quantitatively this reversal is compatible with 4-aminomethyl benzoic acid competitively binding to the external surface of PepT1. 4. 4-Aminomethylbenzoic acid (the first molecule discovered to be a non-translocated competitive inhibitor of proton-coupled oligopeptide transport) and its derivatives may thus be particularly useful as experimental tools.