Renal Tubular Transport of Amino Acids

Abstract

Abstract Cushny in 1917 first remarked on the extensive amino acid reabsorption which occurs in the nephron. Although many workers since then have studied the nature and localization of the reabsorptive mechanism, progress has been slow because of the technical difficulties of micropuncture work. The bulk of filtered amino nitrogen is reabsorbed in the proximal tubule although the possibility of there being more distal reabsorptive (or secretory) sites cannot be excluded. It is also uncertain whether all segments of the proximal tubule contribute equally to the reabsorptive process. Amino acid reabsorption is an active process involving numerous illdefined steps, the first of which is binding to the brush borders. Renal amino acid transport mechanisms are of two kinds: the high-capacity low-specificity systems transport whole groups of amino acids—the acidic, basic, neutral, and imino-glycine groups—while the other, the low-capacity high-specificity systems, transport single or perhaps pairs of amino acids only.