A correlation of permeabilities for passively transported compounds in monkey and rabbit jejunum

Permeability measurements were conducted for a series of compounds using in vitro tissue sections from monkey and rabbit jejunum. Jejunal segments were stripped of serosal musculature and mounted in a diffusion-cell system, using previously described methods and equipment. Permeability determinations of radiolabeled compounds ranging over two orders of magnitude in molecular weight were conducted. For the compounds examined, the permeability of the rabbit jejunum was approximately twice that of the monkey. This was in contrast to the relationship implied by the stripped tissue thickness measurements of 0.92 and 0.83 mm for rabbit and monkey, respectively. An investigation of the size of the paracellular space in the jejunum was undertaken to account for this apparent discrepancy in tissue permeability. Scanning electron micrographs of intestinal sections revealed a similar packing density of cells between species; however, a difference was noted in the shape and number of villi per unit area. Comparative measurements of the paracellular volume in both species using mannitol and methoxyinulin as extracellular space markers further suggests that the paracellular junctions are similar in size but more numerous per unit area of rabbit jejunum than that of the monkey. In contrast to passively transported compounds, the active transport of D-glucose was greater in monkey jejunum compared to rabbit tissue segments. When active transport was inhibited by blockade of the sodium pump with ouabain, the passive component of D-glucose transport for both rabbit and monkey tissue was in agreement with the relationship demonstrated above for compounds which are solely transported by passive processes.