Thiamine absorption in the rat. ii. intestinal alkaline phosphatase activity and thiamine absorption from rat small intestine in-vitro and in-vivo.

The correlations between intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) activity and thiamine absorption and glucose absorption were studied in the rat. An everted sac in-vitro technique was used in adult rats whereas in-vitro experiments were performed in young rats 10 days old. All incubation experiments were done with 14-C-labeled thiamine. The patterns of IAP activity along the small intestines differed greatly between young and adult rats but were closely paralleled by the distribution of active thiamine transport in adult rats and thiamine absorption in young rats, respectively. When IAP was specifically inhibited in adult rats by L-phenylalanine active thiamine transport in-vitro was abolished. No correlation was found between IAP activity and active transport or glucose in-vitro, nor did inhibition of the enzyme in any way affect glucose transport capacity. It is suggested that the enzyme intestinal alkalinephosphatase is involved in the process of active thiamine absorption.