molecules Article Effect of Hydrolyzable Tannins on Glucose-Transporter Expression and Their Bioavailability in Pig Small-Intestinal 3D Cell Model Maksimiljan Brus 1 , Robert Frangež 2, Mario Gorenjak 3 , Petra Kotnik 4,5, Željko Knez 4,5 and Dejan Škorjanc 1,* 1 Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Maribor, Pivola 10, 2311 Hoˇce,Slovenia;
[email protected] 2 Veterinary Faculty, Institute of Preclinical Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Gerbiˇceva60, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia;
[email protected] 3 Center for Human Molecular Genetics and Pharmacogenomics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Taborska 8, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia;
[email protected] 4 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Taborska 8, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia;
[email protected] (P.K.);
[email protected] (Ž.K.) 5 Laboratory for Separation Processes and Product Design, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +386-2-320-90-25 Abstract: Intestinal transepithelial transport of glucose is mediated by glucose transporters, and affects postprandial blood-glucose levels. This study investigates the effect of wood extracts rich in hydrolyzable tannins (HTs) that originated from sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) and oak (Quercus petraea) on the expression of glucose transporter genes and the uptake of glucose and HT constituents in a 3D porcine-small-intestine epithelial-cell model. The viability of epithelial cells CLAB and PSI exposed to different HTs was determined using alamarBlue®. qPCR was used to analyze the gene expression of SGLT1, GLUT2, GLUT4, and POLR2A. Glucose uptake was confirmed Citation: Brus, M.; Frangež, R.; by assay, and LC–MS/ MS was used for the analysis of HT bioavailability.