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Journal of Nutrition Vol. 105 No. 6 June 1975, pp. 776-781
Copyright © 1975 by American Society for Nutrition
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Intestinal Disaccharidase and peroxidase Activities in Parenterally Nourished Rats1

Gilbert A. Castro, Edward M. Copeland, Stanley J. Dudrick and Leonard R. Johnson

Department of Physiology and Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical School, Houston, Texas 77025

The importance of the presence of food in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract in maintaining normal enzyme activity in the small intestine was investigated in rats that were kept from eating for as long as 2 weeks. During this time animals were sustained on a nutrient solution administered intravenously. Enzyme activity and small bowel mass in these animals and similar parameters in rats that were administered the same solution orally were compared with control groups fed an essentially isoenergetic diet of stock rat food and water. Disaccharidase and peroxidase levels in mucosal scrapings expressed as activity/milligram protein, activity/intestine, and activity/100 g body weight, were significantly reduced in intravenously nourished rats but not in rats receiving the nutrient solution orally. In addition to changes in enzyme activities, parenteral feeding was accompanied by a significant reduction in the small bowel weight:body weight ratio as compared with that of rats fed the stock diet or nutrient solution orally. Results support the conclusion that normal activity of intestinal enzymes spatially distributed with regard to depth within the mucosa depends on the presence of food in the GI tract and cannot be maintained at normal levels by total intravenous nutrition.

KEY WORDS: • parenteral nutrition • disaccharidase • peroxidase • intestine

1 Work was supported in part by NIH Research Grants AI-11361, AM-16505, and CA-05831. Dr. Johnson is the recipient of un NIH Research Career Development Award, AM-28972.

Manuscript received 9 December 1974.




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