Oligopeptides: mechanism of renal clearance depends on molecular structure

We have investigated the relative contribution of hydrolysis, intact transport and urinary excretion to the renal clearance of Gly-Sar, Gly-Sar-Sar, and Gly-Gly-Sar in fed and starved rats. The results obtained from isolated kidney perfusion studies are summarized as follows: 1) clearance was fastest for Gly-Gly-Sar and slowest for Gly-Sar-Sar, 2) urinary excretion of Gly-Sar-Sar exceeded that of Gly-Gly-Sar or Gly-Sar, 3) there was accumulation of products of hydrolysis of Gly-Gly-Sar in the perfusate but not of Gly-Sar or Gly-Sar-Sar, 4) isolated brush-border and basolateral membranes of renal tubular cells lacked hydrolytic activity against Gly-Sar and Gly-Sar-Sar but possessed hydrolytic activity against Gly-Gly-Sar, 5) an excess amount of Gly-Sar-Sar reduced the rate of clearance of Gly-Gly-Sar by approximately 40% and significantly increased urinary excretion of this peptide, 6) the nonfiltering kidney cleared Gly-Gly-Sar at a rate which was 50% of that of the filtering kidney but did not clear Gly-Sar, and 7) starvation for 96 h was without a significant effect on the renal clearance of either Gly-Sar or Gly-Sar-Sar but significantly reduced the renal clearance of Gly-Gly-Sar and the brush-border membrane hydrolase activity against this peptide. We conclude that the molecular structure determines the affinity of oligopeptides for the membrane transport and hydrolytic systems, which, in turn, determines their efficiency for clearance by the kidney.