Use of laminar flow and unstirred layer models to predict intestinal absorption in the rat

Carbon monoxide (CO) and [14C]warfarin were used to measure the preepithelial diffusion resistance resulting from poor luminal stirring (RL) in the constantly perfused rat jejunum at varying degrees of distension (0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 ml/cm). RL was much greater than epithelial cell resistance, indicating that poor stirring was the limiting factor in absorption and that an appropriate model of stirring should accurately predict absorption. A laminar flow model accurately predicted the absorption rate of both probes at all levels of gut distension, as well as the absorption of glucose when RL was the rate-limiting factor in absorption. In contrast, an unstirred layer model would not have predicted that gut distension would have little influence on absorption, and would have underestimated [14C]warfarin absorption relative to CO. We concluded that in the perfused rat jejunum, laminar flow accurately models luminal stirring and an unstirred layer should be considered to be a unit of resistance in laminar flow, rather than a model of luminal stirring.