Transport of glutamine by rat kidney brush-border membrane vesicles

Transport of glutamine by brush-border vesicles prepared from the renal cortex was studied. The transport system had both Na+-dependent and Na+-independent components. The presence of Na+ in the incubation resulted in an 'overshoot' at 30s at which time the rates of transport were approx. 8 times the values obtained in the absence of Na+. Variation of the glutamine concentration showed that the system obeyed Michaelis-Menten kinetics with Km and Vmax. values for the Na+-dependent system of 0.86 mM and 9.6 nmol/min per mg of protein respectively. Vesicles obtained from chronically acidotic rats showed similar kinetic characteristics. The Km and Vmax. values for the Na+-dependent system were 0.76 mM and 9.6 nmol/min per mg of protein respectively. There was increased uptake of glutamine by vesicles from acidotic rats and this increase was associated with increased activity of gamma-glutamyltransferase in these preparations. Vesicles from acidotic rats, however, showed no increase in glucose transport and no increase in the activity of maltase, another brush-border enzyme.