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Sugar Transport Across Epithelia

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Studies of Epithelial Transporters and Ion Channels

Part of the book series: Physiology in Health and Disease ((PIHD))

Abstract

The transport of d-glucose, d-galactose, and d-fructose across epithelial cells is mediated by SGLTs, GLUT5, and GLUT2 in the apical and/or basolateral membrane. The SGLTs (sodium–glucose cotransporters) are responsible for active glucose transport, while the GLUTs (facilitative glucose transporters) are responsible for passive glucose and fructose transport. The structure and function of each of these transport proteins are summarized, and then we highlight the similarities and differences between these two classes of membrane transporters. We next discuss their roles in sugar absorption in the intestine and glucose reabsorption from the glomerular filtrate in the kidney. Reference is made to genetic disorders of glucose transport in the intestine, Glucose–Galactose Malabsorption, and in the kidney, Familial Renal Glucosuria, and the Fanconi–Bickel syndrome, and the use of specific SGLT2 inhibitors to treat Type II Diabetes Mellitus.

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Acknowledgments

This chapter is a very personal view of the current state of sugar transport where we have emphasized the advances from the Wright laboratory over the past 30 years. We apologize in advance for not fully recognizing the valuable contributions of other researchers around the world. We do acknowledge the many talented students, post-doctoral fellows, and collaborators who have made our advances possible, and these can be identified in our citations. We are particularly grateful for the funding from the NIH and other agencies that made our work possible. Finally, we acknowledge our debt to Wendy Ravenhill for drawing all the figures in this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Donald D. F. Loo & Ernest M. Wright

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  1. Donald D. F. Loo
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  2. Ernest M. Wright
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Correspondence to Ernest M. Wright .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

    Kirk L. Hamilton

  2. Department of Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Daniel C. Devor

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Loo, D.D.F., Wright, E.M. (2020). Sugar Transport Across Epithelia. In: Hamilton, K.L., Devor, D.C. (eds) Studies of Epithelial Transporters and Ion Channels. Physiology in Health and Disease. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55454-5_6

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