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)

In adult sparse-fur mutant mice, ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) activity represents only 14% of the normal values. We studied the development of this activity from birth to adult period and demonstrated that the enzyme deficiency is already fully expressed at birth, in both the liver and the small intestine of mutants. Since OTC catalyzes the conversion of ornithine to citrulline, in the presence of carbamoyl-phosphate, the effect of a disturbed ornithine metabolism on the postnatal development of the small intestine has been evaluated. The normal appearance of sucrase as well as the normal increase of glucoamylase, trehalase, and alkaline phosphatase activities are delayed in sparse-fur mice compared with controls. Moreover, normal adult values are never attained. In contrast, the normal decline of lactase activity is impaired while leucylnaphthylamidase activity is unaffected. Cell proliferation, as evaluated by [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA and mitotic index, is less active during the 3rd wk of life in mutants. These phenomena are closely associated with a transient weak arginase and ornithine decarboxylase activity in the small intestine. Since arginase catalyzes the conversion of arginine to orthithine, thus ensuring the availability of this substrate for ornithine decarboxylase activity, these results indicate a disturbance of polyamine metabolism in mutant enterocytes with a consequent delay in postnatal differentiation and proliferation. Sparse-fur mutant mouse may therefore represent a useful animal model for evaluating the role of ornithine metabolism in the maturation process of the small intestine.
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PMID:Postnatal maturation of enterocytes in sparse-fur mutant mice. 395 97

To evaluate the role of dietary polyamines in maturation of the rat small intestine, spermine was given orally twice daily to suckling pups from day 10 to day 14 postpartum at different doses: 0, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2.5, and 5 mumol/dose. Compared to saline treated controls, spermine (5 mumol) produced significant increases in mucosal mass parameters (+12 to +57%, P < 0.05), induced prematurely an adult pattern of microvillous enzymes, and enhanced, respectively, by 19- and 3.5-fold (P < 0.01 vs controls) the concentration of the secretory component of p-immunoglobulins in villous and crypt cells. The response of microvillous enzymes (lactase, sucrase, maltase, and aminopeptidase) to spermine was dose-dependent and -specific since oral administration of arginine (5 mumol) or ornithine (5 mumol) was without effect. Intestinal changes were found to be significant (P < 0.05) for doses of spermine exceeding 1 mumol/day, which is in the range of the amount of polyamines provided by solid pellets at weaning (0.4 mumol/g). However, intestinal changes were undetectable at the physiological amounts of polyamines consumed by pups from rat milk during the suckling period (less than 0.3 mumol/day). Consistent with a direct effect of spermine on the intestinal cell, the cytosolic activity of ornithine decarboxylase was depressed by 27-fold (P < 0.005 vs controls) in the jejunum, while inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase by alpha-difluoromethylornithine did markedly decrease but did not suppress the cell response to spermine. Alternately, plasma corticosteronemia, which was virtually absent by day 14 in controls, ranged between 1.4 and 4.6 micrograms/dl in 60% (N = 9) of the spermine-treated rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Maturation of villus and crypt cell functions in rat small intestine. Role of dietary polyamines. 850 5