Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 2, 2025

Investigating Intestinal Barrier Breakdown in Living Organoids
Published on: March 26, 2020
Structural Impact of Steroidal Glycoalkaloids: Barrier Integrity, Permeability, Metabolism, and Uptake in Intestinal
Lucas Keuter1, Alessa Wolbeck1, Matthias Kasimir1
1Institute of Food Chemistry, University of Münster, Corrensstr. 45, 48149, Münster, Germany.
Scope:
Potato tubers represent an essential food component all over the world and an important supplier of carbohydrates, fiber, and valuable proteins. However, besides their health promoting effects, potatoes contain α-solanine and α-chaconine, which are toxic steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGAs). Other solanaceous plants like eggplants and tomatoes produce SGAs as well, different in their chemical structure. This study aims to investigate toxic effects (cholinesterase inhibition, membrane, and barrier disruption), permeability, metabolism, and structure-activity relationships of SGAs.
Methods And Results:
α-solanine, α-chaconine, α-solasonine, α-solamargine, α-tomatine, and their respective aglycones solanidine, solasodine, and tomatidine are analyzed using Ellman assay, cellular impedance spectroscopy, cell extraction, and Caco-2 intestinal model. Additionally, metabolism is analyzed by HPLC-MS techniques. The study observes dependencies of barrier disrupting potential and cellular uptake on the carbohydrate moiety of SGAs, while permeability and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition are dominated by the steroid backbone. SGAs show low permeabilities across Caco-2 monolayers in subtoxic concentrations. In contrast, their respective aglycones reveal higher permeabilities, but are extensively metabolized.
Conclusion:
Besides structure-activity relationships, this study provides new information on the overall effects of steroidal alkaloids on intestinal cells and closes a gap of knowledge for the metabolic pathway from oral uptake to final excretion.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Factors Affecting Dissolution: Drug Permeability, Stability and Stereochemistry
Factors Influencing Drug Absorption: Disease States and Pharmacology
Substances such as alcohol and specific drugs, including antineoplastics, can also negatively impact drug absorption. For instance,...
Cellular Membranes and Drug Transport
Phospholipids arrange themselves into a bilayer, with hydrophilic heads oriented outward and hydrophobic tails facing inward.
Physiological Barriers
The blood endothelial barrier is the most porous of these. It allows all small ionized, un-ionized, and lipophilic molecules to pass through the endothelial lining into the interstitial space...
Hepatic Drug Clearance: Role of Transporters
Methods for Studying Drug Absorption: In vitro
The diffusion cell method uses a two-compartment cell, including a donor compartment with the drug solution, which simulates the environment where the drug is applied, and a receptor compartment with a buffer solution, which simulates the environment...

