Evaluation of chloride/bicarbonate. Exchange in the human colon in vivo.

During perfusion of a plasma-like solution, colonic absorption rate of chloride was much higher than the secretion rate of bicarbonate (34 vs. 3.5 meq/h, respectively). This might suggest that anion exchange (Cl/HCO3) accounts for only a small fraction of total chloride absorption. However, if the colon absorbs as well as secretes bicarbonate, this reasoning would underestimate the magnitude of the anion exchange. To see if the colon absorbs bicarbonate, we perfused a chloride-free solution (which would eliminate bicarbonate secretion via (Cl/HCO3 exchange) and found that the colon absorbed bicarbonate at a rate of 5.1 meq/h. Calculation of electrochemical gradients and measurement of luminal fluid PCO2 indicated that this bicarbonate absorption was mediated passively in response to electrical gradients, rather than via reversed Cl/HCO3 exchange or acid secretion. The combined results of the plasma-like and chloride-free perfusion experiments suggest Cl/HCO3 exchange at a rate of 8.6 meq/h (the sum of bicarbonate movements, 3.5 and 5.1 meq/h, observed in the two experiments). To obtain a second estimate under different experimental conditions, a choline chloride-choline bicarbonate (sodium-free) solution was perfused; with this solution, chloride and bicarbonate absorption dependent on active sodium transport should be eliminated or markedly reduced, and the magnitude of Cl/HCO3 exchange should be revealed. This experiment suggested a Cl/HCO3 exchange rate of 9.3 meq/h, similar to the first estimate. As chloride was absorbed at a rate of 34 meq/h during perfusion of the plasma-like solution, the Cl/HCO3 exchange provides for approximately one-fourth of total chloride absorption.