Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.2.1.108 (lactase)
 2,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Hydrogen breath tests were performed in Gabon (Central Africa) after a loading dose of lactose in 67 well-nourished African children (50 with intestinal parasites and 17 unparasitized) and in 18 unparasitized young adults. All had normal nutritional status, and none had diarrhea or digestive symptoms. Parasites that were found included Ascaris lumbricoides in 76% of the parasitized children, Trichuris trichiura in 58%, Giardia in 24%, Entamoeba histolytica in 20%, Schistosoma intercalatum in 16%, and Necator Americanus in 14%. A similar proportion of parasitized (64%) or unparasitized (62.8%) subjects were lactose malabsorbers. Giardia infection was associated with a higher, but not significantly different, proportion of lactose intolerance (10 of 12, 83.3%). The presence of infection with A. lumbricoides or T. trichiura did not increase the percentage of lactose malabsorption. These data indicate that a decrease of lactase activity in well-nourished African children is not related to the presence or the importance of Ascaris or other intestinal parasites if the nutritional status is normal.
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PMID:Influence of intestinal parasitism on lactose absorption in well-nourished African children. 153 47

In infants suffering from protein-calorie malnutrition, the decreased intestinal mucosal lactase specific activity could be due either to the protein-calorie malnutrition or to the commonly associated enteritis (viral or bacterial) and intestinal parasites. We studied intestinal mucosal disaccharidase (lactase, sucrase, and maltase) specific activity in suckling (1 and 2 wk old), weanling (3 wk old), and postweaning (4 and 6 wk old) control and growth-retarded (malnourished) rats. Growth retardation was induced by feeding mother rats and postweaning rats a diet deficient in protein. In the malnourished rats, with few exceptions, specific activity of the disaccharidases in the intestinal mucosa were similar to those in the corresponding control groups of rats. However, because of marked mucosal atrophy total intestinal mucosal disaccharidase activities were more than 50% lower in the malnourished rats. These findings suggest that the specific activity of the intestinal mucosal disaccharidases is not affected by malnutrition per se.
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PMID:Intestinal disaccharidases in malnourished infant rats. 679 98