Glucose metabolism in the mucosa of the small intestine. A study of hexokinase activity.

1. The intracellular distribution of hexokinase activity was studied in the mucosa of rat and guinea-pig small intestine. In the rat 60% and in the guinea pig 45% of the hexokinase activity of homogenates were recovered in a total particulate fraction that contained only 5-17% of the homogenate activity of hexose phosphate isomerase, pyruvate kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and overall glycolysis (formation of lactate from glucose). 2. Fractionation of homogenates from guineapig small intestine showed that the particulate hexokinase activity was chiefly in the mitochondrial fraction with a small proportion in the nuclei plus brush-border fraction. 3. After chromatography of the particle-free supernatants on DEAE-cellulose, hexokinase types I and II were determined quantitatively. No evidence was obtained for the presence of hexokinase type III or glucokinase. In the preparations from guinea pigs, hexokinase types I and II amounted to 69% and 31% respectively of the eluted activity; the corresponding values for preparations from rats were 5.8% and 94.2%. 4. Total and specific hexokinase activities decreased significantly in homogenates and particle-free supernatants prepared from the intestinal mucosa of rats starved for 36hr. and increased again after re-feeding. The decrease in hexokinase activity in the particle-free supernatant from starved rats was chiefly due to a decrease in the type II enzyme.