A panel of monoclonal antibodies was produced against purified microvillus membranes of human small intestinal enterocytes. By means of these probes three disaccharidases (sucrase-isomaltase, lactase-phlorizin hydrolase, and maltase-glucoamylase) and four peptidases (aminopeptidase N, dipeptidylpeptidase IV, angiotension I-converting enzyme, and p-aminobenzoic acid peptide hydrolase) were successfully identified as individual entities by SDS PAGE and localized in the microvillus border of the enterocytes by immunofluorescence microscopy. The antibodies were used to study the expression of small intestinal hydrolases in the colonic adenocarcinoma cell line Caco 2. This cell line was found to express sucrase-isomaltase, lactase-phlorizin hydrolase, aminopeptidase N, and dipeptidylpeptidase IV, but not the other three enzymes. Pulse-chase studies with [3SS]methionine and analysis by subunit-specific monoclonal antibodies revealed that sucrase-isomaltase was synthesized and persisted as a single-chain protein comprising both subunits. Similarly, lactase-phlorizin hydrolase was synthesized as a large precursor about twice the size of the lactase subunits found in the human intestine. Aminopeptidase N and dipeptidylpeptidase IV, known to be dimeric enzymes in most mammals, were synthesized as monomers. Transport from the rough endoplasmic reticulum to the trans-Golgi apparatus was considerably faster for the peptidases than for the disaccharidases, as probed by endoglycosidase H sensitivity. These results suggest that the major disaccharidases share a common biosynthetic mechanism that differs from that for peptidases. Furthermore, the data indicate that the transport of microvillus membrane proteins to and through the Golgi apparatus is a selective process that may be mediated by transport receptors.

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A method for the isolation of brush-border membranes of large intestinal epithelial cells was developed, which is based on the purification of intact brush-border caps by Percoll density-gradient centrifugation followed by separation of the vesiculated brush-border membranes on sucrose gradients. The procedure has two major advantages in comparison to known methods: its first step does not depend on the determination of marker enzymes and the method is applicable to rats as well as rabbits without major modifications. Due to the lack of an accepted marker for the colonic brush-border membrane the validity of the isolation procedure was tested by its application to the small intestine. Rat small intestinal brush-border membranes were enriched 21-fold when compared to the homogenate. The method was used to evaluate alkaline phosphatase as a marker enzyme for the colonic brush-border membrane. The results suggest that alkaline phosphatase is not exclusively localized in the brush-border membrane since this enzyme was also associated with membranes having different physical properties.

Abstract. The previously produced monoclonal antibody IEC 1/48 against cultured rat intestinal crypt cells (Quaroni, A., and K. J. Isselbacher. 1981. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 67:1353-1362 was extensively characterized and found to be directed against the/3 subunit of (Na + + K÷)-ATPase as assessed by immunological and enzymatic criteria. Under nondenaturing conditions the antibody precipitated the ct-/~ enzyme complex (98,000 and 48,000 Mr). This probe, together with the monoclonal antibody C 62.4 against the c~ subunit (Kashgarian, M., D. Biemesderfer, M. Caplan, and B. Forbush. 1985. Kidney Int. 28:899-913), was used to localize (Na + + K÷)-ATPase in epithelial cells along the rat intestinal tract by immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy. Both antibodies exclusively labeled the basolateral membrane of small intestine and proximal colon epithelial cells. However, in the distal colon, IEC 1/48, but not C 62.4, also labeled the brush border membrane. The cross-reacting/~-subunit-like antigen on the apical cell pole was tightly associated with isolated brush borders but was apparently devoid of (Na + + K÷)-ATPase activity. Subcellular fractionation of colonocytes in conjunction with limited proteolysis and surface radioiodination of intestinal segments suggested that the cross-reacting antigen in the brush border may be very similar to the fl subunit. The results support the notion that in the small intestine and proximal colon the enzyme subunits are exclusively targeted to the basolateral membrane while in the distal colon nonassembled/3 subunit or a ~-subunit-like protein is also transported to the apical cell pole.