Brush border calcium uptake in short-bowel syndrome in rats

Resection of distal small intestine causes calcium malabsorption in humans and in a rat model of 50% distal resection. We tested the hypothesis that this calcium malabsorption is caused in the rat model by a brush border defect. We compared brush border membrane vesicles from the proximal small intestine of control (transection and anastomosis at mid-small intestine) with distally resected rats. Mucosal protein was 25% greater in the resected group and the vesicles were enriched 37-fold in sucrase activity when compared with homogenate. Kinetic constants Vmax (maximal initial rate of saturable calcium uptake at infinite concentration), kT (calcium concentration for saturable calcium uptake rate at half Vmax), and KD (rate constant for nonsaturable calcium uptake per unit concentration) were slightly but not significantly greater in the resected as compared with the transected group, ruling out the brush border as the cause for decreased transmucosal calcium transport.