Transport of Selenomethionine and Methionine Across the Intestinal Brush Border Membrane

Abstract

Selenoamino acids are generally considered to be the main selenium source in naturally occurring food and feedstuffs. Early studies by Spencer and Blau (1962) and McConnell and Cho (1965) have shown active transport of selenomethionine (Se-Met) but not of selenocystine across the intestinal wall of hamsters. Furthermore, some evidence for a common transport site for Se-Met and its sulfur analog methionine (Met) was presented (McConnell and Cho 1965). The goal of our investigations was to characterize transport of Se-Met and Met across the intestinal brush border membrane. Particularly, experiments on Na⁺-dependence, substrate specificity, and transport kinetics of these two amino acids were performed. For the experiments isolated brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) from pig jejunum were used.

To whom all correspondence should be addressed