Carrier-mediated ¿-aminobutyric acid transport across the basolateral membrane of human intestinal Caco-2 cell monolayers

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The aim of the present study was to investigate the transport of ¿-aminobutyric acid (GABA) across the basolateral membrane of intestinal cells. The proton-coupled amino acid transporter, hPAT1, mediates the influx of GABA and GABA mimetic drug substances such as vigabatrin and gaboxadol and the anticancer prodrug d-aminolevulinic acid across the apical membrane of small intestinal enterocytes. Little is however known about the basolateral transport of these substances. We investigated basolateral transport of GABA in mature Caco-2 cell monolayers using isotope studies. Here we report that, at least two transporters seem to be involved in the basolateral transport of GABA. The basolateral uptake consisted of a high-affinity system with a K(m) of 290µM and V(max) of 75pmolcm(-2)min(-1) and a low affinity system with a K(m) of approximately 64mM and V(max) of 1.6nmolcm(-2)min(-1). The high-affinity transporter is Na(+) and Cl(-) dependent. The substrate specificity of the high-affinity transporter was further studied and Gly-Sar, Leucine, gaboxadol, sarcosine, lysine, betaine, 5-hydroxythryptophan, proline and glycine reduced the GABA uptake to approximately 44-70% of the GABA uptake in the absence of inhibitor. Other substances such as ß-alanine, GABA, 5-aminovaleric acid, taurine and d-aminolevulinic acid reduced the basolateral GABA uptake to 6-25% of the uptake in the absence of inhibitor. Our results indicate that the distance between the charged amino- and acid-groups is particular important for inhibition of basolateral GABA uptake. Thus, there seems to be a partial substrate overlap between the basolateral GABA transporter and hPAT1, which may prove important for understanding drug interactions at the level of intestinal transport.
Original languageEnglish
JournalEuropean Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics
Volume81
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)458-462
ISSN0939-6411
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012

ID: 38159131