The characteristics of nucleobase transport and metabolism by the perfused sheep choroid plexus.

The uptake of nucleobases was investigated across the basolateral membrane of the sheep choroid plexus perfused in situ. The maximal uptake (U(max)) for hypoxanthine and adenine, was 35.51+/-1.50% and 30.71+/-0.49% and for guanine, thymine and uracil was 12.00+/-0.53%, 13.07+/-0.48% and 12.30+/-0.55%, respectively with a negligible backflux, except for that of thymine (35.11+/-5.37% of the U(max)). HPLC analysis revealed that the purine nucleobase hypoxanthine and the pyrimidine nucleobase thymine can pass intact through the choroid plexus and enter the cerebrospinal fluid CSF so the lack of backflux for hypoxanthine was not a result of metabolic trapping in the cell. Competition studies revealed that hypoxanthine, adenine and thymine shared the same transport system, while guanine and uracil were transported by a separate mechanism and that nucleosides can partially share the same transporter. HPLC analysis of sheep CSF collected in vivo revealed only two nucleobases were present adenine and hypoxanthine; with an R(CSF/Plasma) 0.19+/-0.02 and 3.43+/-0.20, respectively. Xanthine and urate, the final products of purine catabolism, could not be detected in the CSF even in trace amounts. These results suggest that the activity of xanthine oxidase in the brain of the sheep is very low so the metabolic degradation of purines is carried out only as far as hypoxanthine which then accumulates in the CSF. In conclusion, the presence of saturable transport systems for nucleobases at the basolateral membrane of the choroidal epithelium was demonstrated, which could be important for the distribution of the salvageable nucleobases, adenine and hypoxanthine in the central nervous system.