Net absorption of water, chloride and hexose from the intestine of dogs

¹ Department of Physiology, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois

Hexose and/or NaCl solutions were perfused at about 100 cm H₂O pressure through small intestinal loops in unanesthetized dogs. The rate of glucose absorption increased in curvilinear fashion as the glucose concentration of the infusate ranged from 1% to 30% and did not differ between jejunal and ileal loops. Net chloride secretion rates were independent of perfusate hexose concentrations and were greater for jejunal than for ileal loops when nonchloride solutions were infused. Net chloride absorption rates increased with infusate concentrations ranging from 0.2% to 1.8% NaCl, and were greater for ileal than for jejunal loops. However, this difference may be due to the greater chloride secretion of jejunal loops. The curvilinear relationship between moles of glucose or chloride absorbed and lumen concentrations of these substances was rectified by plotting absorption rates against log concentration. The resulting mm absorbed per hour/ log mm per liter concentration of the perfusate averaged 10.1 and 8.7 for chloride and glucose, respectively, in 6 dogs. Net fluid absorption rate decreased in curvilinear fashion with increasing perfusate osmolar concentration when NaCl or hexose was given. Net fluid absorption at given osmolar perfusate concentrations was greater from NaCl than from glucose or sorbose solutions.