How is water absorbed in small intestine
How is water absorbed in small intestine
The small intestine must absorb massive quantities of water. A normal person or animal of similar size takes in roughly 1 to 2 liters of dietary fluid every day. On top of that, another 6 to 7 liters of fluid is received by the small intestine daily as secretions from salivary glands, stomach, pancreas, liver and the small intestine itself.
By the time the ingesta enters the large intestine, approximately 80% of this fluid has been absorbed. Net movement of water across cell membranes always occurs by osmosis, and the fundamental concept needed to understand absorption in the small gut is that there is a tight coupling between water and solute absorption. Another way of saying this is that absorption of water is absolutely dependent on absorption of solutes, particularly sodium:
- Sodium is absorbed into the cell by several mechanisms, but chief among them is by cotransport with glucose and amino acids - this means that efficient sodium absorption is dependent on absorption of these organic solutes.
- Absorbed sodium is rapidly exported from the cell via sodium pumps - when a lot of sodium is entering the cell, a lot of sodium is pumped out of the cell, which establishes a high osmolarity in the small intercellular spaces between adjacent enterocytes.
- Water diffuses in response to the osmotic gradient established by sodium - in this case into the intercellular space. It seems that the bulk of the water absorption is transcellular, but some also diffuses through the tight junctions.
- Water, as well as sodium, then diffuses into capillary blood within the villus.
The small intestine must absorb massive quantities of water. A normal person or animal of similar size takes in roughly 1 to 2 liters of dietary fluid every day. On top of that, another 6 to 7 liters of fluid is received by the small intestine daily as secretions from salivary glands, stomach, pancreas, liver and the small intestine itself.
By the time the ingesta enters the large intestine, approximately 80% of this fluid has been absorbed. Net movement of water across cell membranes always occurs by osmosis, and the fundamental concept needed to understand absorption in the small gut is that there is a tight coupling between water and solute absorption. Another way of saying this is that absorption of water is absolutely dependent on absorption of solutes, particularly sodium:
- Sodium is absorbed into the cell by several mechanisms, but chief among them is by cotransport with glucose and amino acids - this means that efficient sodium absorption is dependent on absorption of these organic solutes.
- Absorbed sodium is rapidly exported from the cell via sodium pumps - when a lot of sodium is entering the cell, a lot of sodium is pumped out of the cell, which establishes a high osmolarity in the small intercellular spaces between adjacent enterocytes.
- Water diffuses in response to the osmotic gradient established by sodium - in this case into the intercellular space. It seems that the bulk of the water absorption is transcellular, but some also diffuses through the tight junctions.
- Water, as well as sodium, then diffuses into capillary blood within the villus.
