Urea transport across the gastrointestinal tract involves transporters of the urea transporter-B group, the regulation of which is poorly understood. The classical stimulatory effect of CO2 and the effect of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) on the ruminal recycling of urea were investigated by using Ussing chamber and microelectrode techniques with isolated ruminal epithelium of sheep. The flux of urea was found to be phloretin sensitive and passive. At a luminal pH of 6.4, but not at 7.4, the addition of SCFA (40 mmol/l) or CO2/HCO 3 Ϫ (10% and 25 mmol/l) led to a fourfold increase in urea flux. The stepwise reduction of luminal pH in the presence of SCFA from 7.4 to 5.4 led to a bell-shaped modification of urea transport, with a maximum at pH 6.2. Lowering the pH in the absence of SCFA or CO2 had no effect. Inhibition of Na ϩ /H ϩ exchange increased urea flux at pH 7.4, with a decrease being seen at pH 6.4. In experiments with double-barreled, pH-sensitive microelectrodes, we confirmed the presence of an apical pH microclimate and demonstrated the acidifying effects of SCFA on the underlying epithelium. We confirm that the permeability of the ruminal epithelium to urea involves a phloretin-sensitive pathway. We present clear evidence for the regulation of urea transport by strategies that alter intracellular pH, with permeability being highest after a moderate decrease. The well-known postprandial stimulation of urea transport to the rumen in vivo may involve acute pH-dependent effects of intraruminal SCFA and CO2 on the function of existing urea transporters. pH i; urea transporter-B; short-chain fatty acids; microclimate; volatile fatty acid UREA, POSSIBLY BECAUSE OF its small size, was long thought to move passively across epithelia, depending only on the rate of delivery via blood. The urea permeability of cellular membranes has now been established to be several orders of magnitude above that of lipid membranes (11,92) and is coupled to the expression of specific urea-transporting proteins with channel-like kinetics (7,46,71,81,82,95). Whereas the role that these proteins play in the elegant renal concentrating mechanism has received much attention, their function and regulation in other parts of the body, such as the gut (39), continues to be poorly understood.In contrast to the paucity of our knowledge concerning extrarenal urea transport in humans, we have long known of the ability of camels, cows, or sheep to shift the excretion of urea from the kidney (62, 72) to the gastrointestinal tract (79). The transport of urea through the rumen epithelium was first demonstrated many years ago in vivo and in vitro (16,29,79,89) and the physiological significance is clear: in the rumen, dietary cellulose is broken down by bacteria that utilize ureanitrogen for the synthesis of microbial proteins. After passage into the duodenum, the amino acids of these proteins are absorbed and reach the liver, where new urea for secretion into the rumen can be formed. Recycling of nitrogen via urea secretion into the rumen thus ...