Transport of deutherium oxide across isolated rat small intestine

1. Transport of deuterium oxide from a luminal perfusate containing 1% D2O was studied in Fisher & Gardners (1974) isolated preparation of perfused rat small intestine. 2. The kinetics of appearance of D2O in the intestinal secretion at the serosal surface fitted well to a single exponential function. 3. The steady-state concentration of D2O in this secretion was not significantly different from the concentration in the luminal perfusate. 4. The total tissue water contained D2O at a concentration, on average, 5% lower than that in the luminal perfusate. 5. There is no evidence to suggest discrimination in transport across the intestinal mucosa between H2O and D2O. 6. The kinetics of wash-in of D2O to intestinal secretion show that the ratio of flux out of the lumen to reflux back to the lumen is 1-38;1.