UPTAKE OF GLUCOSE ANALOGUES BY RAT BRAIN CORTEX SLICES: A KINETIC ANALYSIS BASED UPON A MODEL

— In slice preparations the exchange of dissolved substances between cells and incubation medium is delayed by diffusion through the extracellular space. The delay may seriously interfere with the study of membrane transport in terms of unidirectional fluxes across the cell membranes. A three‐compartment serial model has been developed to describe exchange between slice and incubation medium. By aid of this model it is shown that the diffusion delay prevents determination of unidirectional fluxes for the two non‐metabolizable glucose analogues 3‐O‐methylglucose and α‐methyl‐glucosidc. The membrane transport of the slowly transported α‐methylglucoside can however be examined by aid of the model whereas the transport of 3‐O‐methylglucose is so rapid that it can not be examined with respect to Vmax Km and Kr. An attempt to determine these parameters will result in falsely large values which reflect extracellular diffusion and not membrane transport.