Intestinal absorption by carrier-mediated transports: two-dimensional laminar flow model.

The two-dimensional laminar flow model was adapted to the intestinal absorption of drug and biological substances by carrier-mediated transports in the single perfusion experiments and we investigated the effects of the unstirred water layer on the Michaelis constant and the maximum transport velocity. According to the calculated values, the half saturation concentration at the inlet was larger than the true Michaelis constant at the intestinal wall. The apparent values of the Michaelis constant and the maximum transport velocity obtained by the Lineweaver-Burk plots were larger than the true ones, and the relations were not linear. These deviations increased as the ratio of the maximum transport velocity to the Michaelis constant increased and as the perfusion rate decreased. In the concurrent presence of a passive transport, underestimation of the carrier-mediated transport component of the absorption rate (at steady state) was predicted. It is considered to cause the underestimation of the maximum transport velocity. When water was absorbed (or secreted), the absorption rate increased (or decreased) and did not saturate. This two-dimensional laminar flow model would enable us to analyze the experimental data to determine the true values of the Michaelis constant and the maximum transport velocity.