Active amino acid absorption by proximal convoluted and proximal straight tubules.

Transport of glycine and alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) was studied in proximal convoluted (PCT) and proximal straight (PST) tubules isolated from rabbit kidney. In both segments, unidirectional lumen-to-bath fluxes (J1 leads to b) (pmol min-1mm-1) of glycine and AIB exceeded corresponding bath-to-lumen fluxes (Jb leads to 1), which demonstrated that both were actively absorbed. During J1 leads to b measurements, intracellular concentrations of both amino acids were greater than the luminal concentration, indicating that the site of active transport was the luminal membrane. Replacement of Na+ by choline in both perfusate and bath (PCT) or perfusate alone (PST) reduced J1 leads to b for glycine to equal Jb leads to 1. Nonlinear fitting of the relationship between J1 leads to b and the mean luminal glycine concentration according to Michaelis-Menten kinetics gave Jmax values of 28.5 (PCT) and 2.5 (PST) pmol min-1 mm-1, and Km values of 11.8 (PCT) and 0.7 (PST) mM. There was a parallel, Na+-independent, nonsaturable component of J1 leads to b characterized by an apparent permeability coefficient of 0.19 micron/s in the PCT and 0.04 micron/s in the PST.