D-Glucose, forskolin and cytochalasin B affinities for the glucose transporter Glut1. Study of pH and reconstitution effects by biomembrane affinity chromatography.

The affinities of D-glucose and the transport inhibitors, forskolin and cytochalasin B (CB), for Glut1 were studied by frontal affinity chromatography at pH 5-10 on sterically immobilized proteoliposomes with reconstituted human red cell glucose transporter Glut1. The affinity of D-glucose for Glut1 became slightly weaker as the pH was increased. The inhibitor affinities decreased and became immeasurably weak above pH 9. At pH 7.4, the dissociation constants were 44 mM for glucose, 1.8 microM for forskolin and 72 nM for CB. The affinities of these solutes for Glut1 in red cell membrane vesicles and particularly for Glut1 in red cells were higher, as shown by chromatographic analyses.

Effects of cholesterol and model transmembrane proteins on drug partitioning into lipid bilayers as analysed by immobilized-liposome chromatography.

We have analysed how cholesterol and transmembrane proteins in phospholipid bilayers modulate drug partitioning into the bilayers. For this purpose we determined the chromatographic retention of drugs on liposomes or proteoliposomes entrapped in gel beads. The drug retention per phospholipid amount (the capacity factor Ks) reflects the drug partitioning. Cholesterol in the bilayers decreased the Ks value and hence the partitioning into the membrane in proportion to the cholesterol fraction. On average this cholesterol effect decreased with increasing temperature. Model transmembrane proteins, the glucose transporter GLUT1 and bacteriorhodopsin, interacted electrostatically with charged drugs to increase or decrease the drug partitioning into the bilayers. Bacteriorhodopsin proteoliposomes containing cholesterol combined the effects of the protein and the cholesterol and approached the partitioning properties of red blood cell membranes. For positively charged drugs the correlation between calculated intestinal permeability and log Ks was fair for both liposomes and bacteriorhodopsin-cholesterol proteoliposomes. Detailed modeling of solute partitioning into biological membranes may require an extensive knowledge of their structures.