Rat jejunum controls luminal thiol-disulfide redox.

The control of luminal thiol-disulfide redox state may be important for several intestinal functions, including absorption of iron or selenium and maintenance of mucus fluidity. Disulfides are present in the diet, and although luminal thiols are supplied in bile, little is known about the ability of the small intestine to reduce disulfides to maintain the luminal thiol-disulfide redox state. The objective of the current study was to determine whether the isolated, vascularly perfused jejunum, free from biliary thiols, could reduce intraluminal glutathione disulfide (GSSG) to glutathione (GSH). GSSG was introduced in a deoxygenated solution to inhibit the reoxidation of any GSH formed, and preparations were pretreated with acivicin to inhibit the degradation of GSH by gamma-glutamyltransferase. GSSG (250 micromol/L) was reduced to GSH, with the luminal redox potential (E(h)) for GSSG/2GSH changing from >0 to -111, -132 and -143 mV at 10, 20 and 30 min, respectively. The E(h) for luminal cystine/2cysteine was approximately 20 mV more reducing than that for GSSG/2GSH at each time point, suggesting that cysteine could function in the reduction of GSSG in the lumen. Measurements in specific regions showed that GSSG reduction was more rapid in the duodenum and proximal jejunum than in the distal jejunum. Preparations without acivicin treatment showed that E(h) values were unaffected by inhibition of gamma-glutamyltransferase despite differences in GSH and cysteine pool sizes. Rat intestine has a mechanism to adjust the luminal thiol-disulfide redox. In principle, dysfunction of this mechanism could contribute to malabsorption or other nutritional disorders.