Intestinal absorption of choline in rats.

The intestinal absorption of choline, an endogenous quaternary ammonium, from the rat jejunum has been investigated with an in situ ligated loop method and an in vitro everted sac method. Choline was absorbed rapidly from the ligated jejunum and structural analogs inhibited choline absorption competitively. In in vitro experiments, choline was transported from the mucosal fluid to the intracellular fluid against a concentration gradient and the rate of tissue uptake was highly affected by incubation temperature, aerobic condition and the presence of a metabolic inhibitor, 2,4-dinitrophenol. The tissue accumulation of choline was saturable at concentrations below 100 microM and, above this concentration the uptake ratio of choline (medium to tissue) was almost constant. One mM hemicholinium-3, which is well known to inhibit choline uptake by neurons through the choline specific carrier, also significantly inhibited choline uptake, especially at concentrations of choline below 100 microM. The fact that the choline uptake is linear in the presence of hemicholinium-3 shows that choline is partially absorbed by passive diffusion. The difference between the total tissue accumulation and choline uptake by the passive diffusional pathway followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics and the apparent Kt of 47 microM and Vmax of 4.1 nmol/ml intracellular fluid/min were determined by an in vitro everted sac method. These findings suggested that, a lower concentrations, choline was absorbed from the rat intestine mainly by an active transport system.