Abstract
The activities of intestinal sucrase and isomaltase are not detectable in rats prior to 15–16 days of age, but corticosteroids as well as feeding heterologous protein precociously induce the activities of the α-glucosidases. We studied the ability of the intestine of infant rats to adapt to alteration in the carbohydrate content of their diets by evaluating changes in activity of disaccharidases and in histological maturation of intestinal mucosa. Ten day old rats were removed from their mothers, warmed in an incubator, and fed by constant infusion through gastrostomies. The basic diet was a soya preparation to which various sugars were added. When the diet contained 2% sucrose, diarrhea ensued for 48 hours, but subsided when intestinal sucrase and isomaltase appeared precociously. In animals fed sucrose, the activities of sucrase and isomaltase were markedly increased as compared to animals on carbohydrate free diets. (Sucrase 2.41 ± .23 vs 0.6 ± .13, isomaltase 3.43 ± .42 vs 0.78 ± 18.) Maltase activity was doubled, while lactase was unaltered. The mitotic index of crypt cells, and depth of crypts, and incorporation of 3H-thymidine into DNA were increased. In adrenalectomized rats, activities of sucrose and isomaltase were not detected nor induced by sucrose. These animals had continuous diarrhea. Steroids given to adrenalectomized rats caused appearance of the enzymes; but if cortisone and sucrose were given together, there was synergism evidenced by a marked increase in activities. In contrast to observations in adult animals, the effect of sucrose on α-glucosidases in developing animals demands the participation of the adrenal gland.
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Lebenthal, E., Kretchmer, N. & Sunshine, P. Nutritional adaptation: Effect of dietary carbohydrate on intestinal disaccharidase activity in the infant rat. Pediatr Res 5, 388 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00073
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00073