Substrate stimulation of para-aminohippuric acid transport: effect on uptake and runout

The ability of penicillin pretreatment to increase PAH accumulation by slices of newborn rabbit renal cortex was dissected into two components, uptake and runout. The oxygen-requiring component of the uptake process was significantly enhanced by penicillin treatment, whereas runout was unaffected. Kinetically, the data suggest that penicillin alters the affinity of the transport system for PAH. Due to the limitations of such a kinetic analysis, no conclusions may be drawn from such a suggestion. However, it may be concluded that penicillin pretreatment increases renal accumulation of PAH solely by stimulating the uptake process. Elucidation of the molecular changes involved will require techniques more sophisticated than uptake into renal cortical slices.