Sunday, September 8, 2013

The transport mechanism of monosaccharides across the intestinal mucosal cells.


o   Monosaccharides are formed by single saccharide molecules.
o   We normally talk about glucose, fructose & galactose as monosaccharides. There are so many except these three.
o   When we talk about starches, they are digested to various types of monosaccharides, disaccharides by gut enzymes secreted from various organs like pancreas.
o   There are same enzymes which digest disaccharides to monosaccharides. They are placed on brush border of the mucosal cells. Isomoltase, Moltase, Sucrose.
o   After the digestion final product is monosaccharides & they are transported across the intestinal mucosal cells to the portal system by various transport mechanisms.



Glucose/ Galactose
o   The transport of the glucose & galactose is dependent in Na+ in the intestinal lumen.
o   High concentration of the Na+ facilitates glucose & galactose transport & low concentration inhibits it.
o   This is because glucose & galactose & Na+ share the same co transport. It is called sodium – dependent glucose transporter.
o   The members of the family are SGLT 1, SGLT 2.
o   They transport glucose in facilitated diffusion.
o   SGLT 1 is responsible for uptake of dietary glucose from the gut.
o   The intracellular Na+ concentration is low in intestinal cells. So that Na+ moves into the cell along its concentration gradient. 
o   Glucose moves in with Na+ & released in the cell.
o   Then Na+ is transported into the lateral intracellular spaces & the glucose is transported by GLUT – 2 into the interstitium & hence to the capillaries.
o   Thus, glucose transport is an example of secondary active transport. The energy for glucose transport is provided indirectly by the active transport of Na+ out of the cell.
o   When Na+/ glucose co transporter is congenitally defective the resulting glucose/galactose mal-absorption causes severe diarrhoea that is often fatal of glucose & galactose are not promptly removed from the diet.
o      SGLT – 1 also transports glucose, but fructose utilizes a different mechanism. Its absorption is independent of Na+
o   It is transported instead by facilitated diffusion from the intestinal lumen into the enterocytes by GLUT – 5 & out of the enterocytes into the interstitium by GLUT – 2.
o   Insulin has little effect on intestinal transport of sugars.

No comments:

Post a Comment

style1
Close