Mechanism and site of small intestinal absorption of alpha-tocopherol in the rat

The site and mechanism of alpha-[5-methyl-3-H]tocopherol absorption was investigated using everted rat small bowel sacs incubated in a micellar medium. Mean plus or minus SE absorption rates of the vitamin at 300 muM incubation solution concentration by proximal, medial, and distal small bowel segments were 2.2 plus or minus 0.17, 3.4 plus or minus 0.21, and 2.0 plus or minus 0.04 nmoles per min per 100 mg, respectively. Addition of 2,4-dinitrophenol, sodium azide, or potassium cyanide to the incubation medium in separate experiments did not change the rate of absorption (P greater than 0.10). Stepwise increase in incubation solution tocopherol concentration up to 1200 muM resulted in a linear increase in the absorption rate. In all of the above described experiments the rate of absorption of the vitamin by the medial portion of the small bowel was significantly (P smaller than 0.01) higher than the rate of absorption of the vitamin by the proximal and distal small bowel segments. No transmural transport of the vitamin into the serosal compartment took place. Autoradiographic examination of the tissue after incubation disclosed accumulation of the vitamin in the submucosal lymphatic spaces. Alpha-Tocopherol absorption by the rat small bowel appears to be a passive diffusion process taking place at the highest rate in the medial portion of the small bowel.