Sites of dipeptide hydrolysis in relation to sites of histidine and glucose active transport in hamster intestine.

The effects of dipeptides and amino acids on the active transport of L-histidine and D-glucose by sacs of everted small intestine of the hamster have been used to determine the sites of final hydrolysis of the dipeptides in relation to the sites of active transport of L-histidine and D-glucose. The results, plus earlier observations (Wiseman, 1977), show that (a) dipeptide active transport occurs at a superficial site, followed by progressively deeper sites for (b) final hydrolysis of glycyl-phenylalanine and phenylalanyl-glycine, then deeper (c) L-histidine active transport, then (d) final hydrolysis of alanyl-alanine, alanyl-leucine, glycyl-alanine, glycyl-proline, leucyl-alanine and leucyl-leucine, then (e) D-glucose active transport, then (f) final hydrolysis of alanyl-glycine, alanyl-valine, glycyl-glycine, prolyl-glycine, valyl-alanine and valyl-valine. The site of D-glucose active transport (2e) and all the sites superficial to it (2a-d) lie in the intestinal epithelial cell's brush-border. The location within the cell of site(s) 2f is not known; it may lie in the cytosol. All the dipeptides appeared to inhibit L-histidine active transport by the release of free amino acid and not by action of intact dipeptide, supporting the view that dipeptides and free amino acids do not share a common transport pathway in the epithelium of the small intestine.