The transport of anions and cations through liposomal membranes facilitated by synthetic carriers has been widely described. In contrast, analogous studies describing the facilitated transport of amino acids (aa) are scarce. We describe the use of calix[4]pyrrole receptors as synthetic carriers for the facilitated diffusion of aa across membranes of liposomes and living cells. We demonstrate that a calix[4]pyrrole cavitand is highly effective and selective for the facilitated diffusion of L-proline (L-Pro). We propose a mobile carrier diffusion mechanism to explain the observed aa facilitated diffusion process. The transport process involves the formation of a 1:1 complex between the carrier and the aa (e.g., L-Pro⊂1). We also describe the unprecedented application of a synthetic carrier to contribute to the uptake of L-Pro in human cells in addition to that mediated by the natural transporters. The reported results augur well for the potential use of aa synthetic carriers in therapeutic applications.

已经广泛描述了阴离子和阳离子通过合成载体促进通过脂质体膜的运输。相反，描述氨基酸（aa）促进运输的类似研究很少。我们描述了杯[4]吡咯受体作为合成载体的使用，以促进氨基酸跨脂质体和活细胞膜的扩散。我们证明，杯[4]吡咯cavitand是高度有效和选择性的促进L-脯氨酸（L-Pro）的扩散。我们提出了一种移动载流子扩散机制来解释观察到的促进扩散过程。运输过程中涉及的1形成：1的载体和氨基酸之间的复杂（例如，L-Pro⊂ 1）。我们还描述了合成载体的空前应用，除了天然转运蛋白介导的合成载体外，它还有助于人类细胞摄取L-Pro。报道的结果预示着合成载体在治疗应用中的潜在用途。