Active transendothelial transport of albumin. Interstitium to lumen.

Cultured porcine pulmonary artery endothelial monolayers actively transport albumin from interstitium to lumen. The active process favors interstitial to luminal transport by a factor of 10 even in the face of a 2:1 luminal:interstitial albumin gradient. The active process is abolished by treatment with 1 mM sodium cyanide. Dextran is not actively transported. This process could be important in determining transvascular fluid balance and transfer of macromolecules across the endothelium.