Effect of peptide chain length on amino acid and nitrogen absorption from two lactalbumin hydrolysates in the normal human jejunum.

A double lumen jejunal perfusion technique has been used in man to study the effect of peptide chain length on absorption of amino acid nitrogen from two partial enzymic hydrolysates of lactalbumin. Copper-chelation chromatography showed that one lactalbumin hydrolysate (LH2) contained 98% peptides with a chain length greater than 4, whilst the other (LH1) contained a more even spread of chain lengths with 55% less than 4. Absorption of total nitrogen and of 14 amino acid residues occurred to a significantly greater extent from the low molecular weight LH1 than from the higher molecular weight LH2. The results suggest that the pattern of nitrogen and amino acid absorption from partial enzymic hydrolysates of whole protein is markedly influenced by peptide chain length and that brush border peptide hydrolysis has an important rate limiting effect on absorption rates.