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)

Intestinal lactase activity is maintained at high levels in suckling rats during the first 2 wk after birth. When 12-day-old rat pups were either mother fed (MF) or artificially reared (AR) with natural rat milk or several artificial formulas, the small intestines had gained similar weight in all animal groups by 16 days except in AR rats fed a chemically defined formula. In the ileum, villus length was similar in MF and AR rats, but crypt depth was significantly higher in all groups of AR rats. Ileal absorptive cells in both MF and AR rats showed immature characteristics, including supranuclear vacuoles, apical tubular systems, and pinocytotic vesicles. Jejunal lactase specific activity and total intestinal lactase activity were significantly higher in AR rats fed rat milk than MF rats at 16 days. Ileal lactase specific activity was similar in these two animal groups. In contrast, AR rats fed artificial formulas supplemented with either glucose or lactose as the sole carbohydrate source exhibited significantly lower ileal lactase specific activity and total intestinal lactase activity than MF rats. Intestinal sucrase activity was prematurely elevated in all AR rats, even when fed natural rat milk. Addition of prolactin (3.3 micrograms/ml) to an artificial formula did not prevent the premature decrease in intestinal lactase specific and total activities in AR rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Rat milk maintains intestinal lactase activity in rat pups whereas artificial formulas do not. 393 Oct 42

A controlled study was carried out to investigate the physiological effects of road transport on sheep. Animals (n = 10; body weight 38.9 +/- 1.3 kg), previously with catheters in their jugular veins, were rounded up and loaded onto a vehicle where they were held in a communal pen with eight other lambs. Blood samples were taken at 30 min intervals during the next 15 h while the vehicle remained stationary or was driven a distance of 548 miles (876 km). Measurements were made of plasma concentrations of cortisol, prolactin, creatine phosphokinase and lactase dehydrogenase isozymes and also of plasma osmolality, haematocrit and body weight; heart rate was also recorded in one animal. Loading and the start of driving produced large increases in cortisol and prolactin concentrations. Heart rate also increased whereas osmolality and haematocrit decreased. The major changes in hormone release occurred in the first 3 h period while, during the remaining 12 h, the stimulatory effect of transport was present but small. Body weight loss was similar under both stationary and driven conditions.
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PMID:Hormonal and physiological effects of a 15 hour road journey in sheep: comparison with the responses to loading, handling and penning in the absence of transport. 888 69

The growth and maturation of the gastrointestinal tract during development is influenced by diverse genetic and growth factors. Since prolactin is abundant in amniotic fluid and breast milk, we hypothesized that it may also affect gut development. The effect of prolactin on thymidine incorporation and tissue alkaline phosphatase, maltase and lactase activity was studied on jejunal explants from fetal, newborn and 2 week-old rats. The results were compared with the effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) under identical experimental conditions. Prolactin induced a significant increase in proliferation and a two- to threefold increase in maltase and alkaline phosphatase activity of the newborn explants. The effect of prolactin in this group compared to that of EGF was significantly greater with respect to proliferation, and almost identical with respect to the hydrolases studied. These results suggest that prolactin might have a role in the process of growth and maturation of the gut mucosa during ontogeny.
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PMID:A possible role of prolactin on growth and maturation of the gut during development in the rat. 1209 87

During pregnancy and lactation, prolactin (PRL) enhances intestinal absorption of calcium and other minerals for fetal development and milk production. Although an enhanced absorptive efficiency is believed to mainly result from the upregulation of mineral transporters in the absorptive villous cells, some other possibilities, such as PRL-enhanced crypt cell proliferation and differentiation to increase the absorptive area, have never been ruled out. Here, we investigated cell proliferation and mRNA expression of mineral absorption-related genes in the PRL-exposed IEC-6 crypt cells. As expected, the cell proliferation was not altered by PRL. Inasmuch as the mRNA expressions of villous cell markers, including dipeptidylpeptidase-4, lactase and glucose transporter-5, were not increased, PRL was not likely to enhance crypt cell differentiation into the absorptive villous cells. In contrast to the previous findings in villous cells, PRL was found to downregulate the expression of calbindin-D(9k), claudin-3 and occludin in IEC-6 crypt cells, while having no effect on transient receptor potential vanilloid family channels-5/6, plasma membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase (PMCA)-1b and Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger-1 expression. In conclusion, IEC-6 crypt cells did not respond to PRL by increasing proliferation or differentiation into villous cells. The present results thus supported the previous hypothesis that PRL enhanced mineral absorption predominantly by increasing transporter expression and activity in the absorptive villous cells.
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PMID:Proliferation and mRNA expression of absorptive villous cell markers and mineral transporters in prolactin-exposed IEC-6 intestinal crypt cells. 2228 85