Kinetics of zinc transport in vitro in rat small intestine and colon: interaction with copper.

The present study was planned to investigate the kinetic transport of zinc, in the intact intestine of the rat, in order to establish if more than one transporter is involved as well as the existence of a preferent sector in the cation uptake. Using an in vitro technique, the influx of zinc across the brush border membrane in three sectors of the small intestine (proximal, mid and distal) and in the colon of the rat was measured at six different concentrations (from 0.0007 to 11 mM). The kinetic study showed that intestinal transport of zinc occurs by a saturable process in the small intestine. The K(m) value obtained in the proximal segment (10.78+/-4.40 mM) is clearly higher than those obtained in the mid and distal segments (1.94+/-0.39 and 3.04+/-0.44 mM, respectively). The same occurs with the J(max) values. These results seem to indicate that more than one transporter may be implicated in zinc transport. In colon the most probable mechanism is non-saturable diffusion, the diffusive permeability, P, being 2.95.10(-7)+/-0.43.10(-7) cm/h. The statistical comparison of the fluxes indicated that, on the whole, there is not a well defined preferent sector in zinc transport. Additionally, the influence of copper on zinc transport, in three sectors of the small intestine, has been evaluated quantifying the influx of zinc at 0.037 mM in the absence and presence of three different concentrations of copper. The results showed that copper significantly reduced the influx of zinc, in the three sectors studied, in a concentration-dependent manner.