Taurocholate transport by basolateral plasma membrane vesicles isolated from developing rat liver.

Taurocholate transport was characterized in basolateral plasma membrane vesicles prepared from the livers of 14-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats using a self-generating Percoll gradient method. Liver plasma membrane protein yield, intravesicular volume, and enrichments of various marker enzymes were similar to those obtained for vesicles from adult rat liver. The basolateral marker enzyme Na+-K+-ATPase was enriched 26-fold in the suckling rat basolateral membrane fraction while the bile canalicular marker enzymes alkaline phosphatase and Mg2+-ATPase were enriched only 3- and 5-fold, respectively. The activities of marker enzymes for endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, or lysosomes were not enriched compared with homogenate. In the presence of an inwardly directed 100 mM Na+ gradient, vesicle accumulation of taurocholate transiently reached a concentration 1.5- to 2-fold higher than that at equilibrium ("overshoot") in suckling and adult membrane vesicles, but the initial rate of taurocholate entry and peak intravesicular accumulation were markedly decreased in suckling compared with adult membrane vesicles. In the presence of an inwardly directed 100 mM K+ gradient, the rate of uptake was slower, and no overshoot occurred in either suckling or adult rat vesicles. The decreased rate of Na+-coupled taurocholate uptake by membrane vesicles from suckling rat liver could not be explained on the basis of more rapid dissipation of the transmembrane Na+ gradient. Kinetic studies demonstrated saturable, Na+-dependent taurocholate uptake for both suckling and adult vesicles. However, the Vmax for taurocholate uptake in suckling rat vesicles was less than half of the adult rate (2.46 +/- 0.13 vs. 5.25 +/- 0.22 nmol X mg prot-1 X min-1, respectively, P less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)