Effect of cholera toxin on passive transepithelial transport of 51Cr-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and 14C-mannitol in rat jejunum.

Intestinal fluid secretion, mainly derived from the crypts, induced, for example, by cholera toxin, decreases the passive transport of small hydrophilic molecules into the lumen. However, the effect of the fluid secretion on the passive absorption of these substances and thus on the permeability of the villus absorptive area is not known. Therefore, the transport rates of 51Cr-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and 14C-mannitol from lumen to plasma and from plasma to lumen were recorded in jejunal loops of anaesthetized rats during cholera toxin-induced fluid secretion in the absence and presence of glucose in the intestinal lumen and expressed as clearance (microL (min g)(-1)). The results showed that the cholera toxin induced fluid secretion and abolished the passive absorption of 51Cr-EDTA both in the absence and presence of luminal glucose during a high perfusion rate (0.5 mL min(-1)). The clearance of mannitol was also inhibited at the low perfusion rate (0.2 mL min-1) with the glucose-free perfusate but only reduced with the glucose perfusate. The results show that mechanisms activated by cholera toxin inhibit the passive absorption of inert hydrophilic substances. This is proposed to be mainly caused by a reduction in the accessibility of the villus epithelium to the luminal content. Furthermore, the secretion seems predominantly to inhibit the passive absorption at the basal parts of the villus while the absorption rate at the villus tips is better preserved. The results also show that the intestinal absorption and secretion of fluid takes place at different locations (villus and crypts, respectively).