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Does active transport exist?

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Conclusion

Since its publication, the two-membrane theory has been generally accepted as a prototype of a transporting epithelium. It should be remembered, however, that whereas it gives a quantitative measure of the active sodium transport, the coupling ratio between Na transport and K recycling has to be estimated by other methods (see Skou, 1957). We are reminded of our initial conclusion: that active transport can only be observed with certainty in systems where net transport of the species in question is going on.

Also, the procedures described in the foregoing are powerful only for tight epithelia where paracellular shunt paths can be neglected.

The finding (Ussing, 1978; Sten-Knudsen & Ussing, 1981) that the flux ratio is time independent, i.e., constant from the first appearance of the tracers on the “receiving” side, makes it possible, at least theoretically, to analyze multipathway systems like leaky epithelia (see, for example, Ussing & Eskesen, 1989 and Ussing & Nedergaard, 1993).

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  1. August Krogh Institute, Laboratory for Biological Chemistry A, 13, Universitetsparken, DK-2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

    H. H. Ussing

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Ussing, H.H. Does active transport exist?. J. Membarin Biol. 137, 91–98 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00233478

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00233478

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