This study demonstrated rapid apical to basolateral absorption of genistein across Caco-2 cell monolayers with a P(app) of 20.0+/-0.8 x 10(-6)cm/sec. In contrast, genistein's main dietary source, genistein-7-glucoside (genistin), was not absorbed. In fact, genistin demonstrated basolateral to apical efflux of 1.28+/-0.10 x 10(-6) cm/sec, which exceeded the flux of the paracellular transport marker mannitol by 6-fold. Although genistin hydrolysis to genistein occurred in the preparation, it did not contribute significantly to these observations. In experiments trying to define the efflux mechanism for genistin, MK-571 reduced the efflux by 87% to 0.19+/-0.02 x 10(-6) cm/sec, implying transport by the polarized efflux pump MRP2.