Postnatal development of monosaccharide transport in pig intestine

In vitro brush-border transport of three monosaccharides by pig intestine was studied as a function of postnatal age from immediately after birth before suckling to after weaning. Rates of transport normalized to tissue weight or surface area for glucose (Glc), galactose (Gal), and fructose (Fru) were highest at birth, with a steep decline after the onset of suckling, probably caused by any combination of three or more factors: reduced transporter site density, shifts in relative abundances of different monosaccharide transporters, and/or changes in activities of individual transporters. Whereas highest rates of Glc and Fru transport shifted from proximal to midintestine after weaning, Gal transport remained highest in proximal intestine. Postnatal increases in Km values for Gal, but not Glc, indicate there are multiple aldohexose transporters that undergo separate developmental trajectories. The presence of Fru transport in neonatal pigs may reflect a more advanced state of development than neonatal rats and rabbits, or may be an adaptation for early weaning. Changes in Fru-to-Glc and Gal-to-Glc transport ratios before weaning suggest transporter development is partly genetically hard-wired, apparently to prepare pigs for weaning. Curiously, Fru-to-Glc transport ratios were lower than those of rat and rabbit, but closely paralleled those of the carnivorous cat.