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)

Using an electrical technique for measuring transjejunal potential differences (PDs) in conscious man, we have estimated the electrogenic absorption of the hexoses liberated by hydrolysis of lactose which was infused into the jejunum of one normal control and 21 patients with diarrhoea. The results were compared with jejunal lactase levels determined from biopsy specimens taken from the recording site immediately after infusion. The PD evoked by 100 mM lactose was very significantly lower in patients with lactase levels below 4 units (lactase deficient) compared with subjects with normal lactase levels. There was also a significant correlation (r = 0.87, P less than 0.005) between the magnitude of the lactose potential (expressed as the ratio of the maximum glucose transfer potential) and the mucosal lactase level in the hypolactasic subjects but not in patients with normal lactase levels. Thus, in the subjects with lactase deficiency, the electrogenic transfer of hexose is clearly limited by the rate of lactose hydrolysis. Unlike other assessments of functional lactase activity, the electrical test provides a specific index of jejunal function and, moreover, can be adapted to investigate the possible disorders of small intestinal motility and secretion associated with hypolactasia.
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PMID:Electrical assessment of functional lactase activity in conscious man. 89 9

The common hookworm (Ancylostoma ceylanicum) infection of humans was studied in golden hamsters model system. Significant biochemical modulations were observed in hamster jejunal brush border membrane (BBM), the primary site of infection. Analysis of BBM at the peak of infection (3-weeks) revealed a marked decrease in the activities of sucrase, lactase and maltase, while activities of alkaline phosphatase, (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase were increased. Kinetic studies conducted with maltase, a superficially localised enzyme of jejunal BBM, revealed loss of enzyme active site during the infection. Among other constituents, the levels of cholesterol and triglycerides were significantly decreased with slight increase in phospholipid content in the infected animals. The hookworm infection also caused a decline in total hexose content indicating an altered membrane glycocalyx. Conversely, there was significant enhancement of hydroxyproline and sialic acid contents. SDS-PAGE analysis showed an enhancement in both low and high molecular weight proteins in jejunal BBM preparations of the infected group. Gel electrophoresis of glycoproteins further revealed the appearance of two additional peaks in the low molecular weight region and concomitant disappearance of a peak in the high molecular weight region. These results strongly support the view that the hookworm infection causes severe damage not to the site of attachment alone but also to the entire cell lining of the jejunum and therefore could influence overall digestion and absorption.
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PMID:Biochemical analysis of jejunal brush border membrane of golden hamster: pathogenic modulations due to ancylostomiasis. 159 19

1. An account is given of the absorption of disaccharides by the small intestine of Rana temporaria, R. pipiens and Bufo vulgaris perfused in vitro through the vascular system. Maltase and trehalase activity are found in the intestine of all three species; very small amounts of sucrase are present in the intestine of R. pipiens but there is no evidence for the presence of lactase in any of the animals studied.2. During maltose absorption free glucose appears in the vascular effluent and in the intestinal lumen. Only very small quantities of disaccharide are found in the vascular effluent. The concentration of free glucose in the intestinal lumen during maltose absorption is not high enough to account for the rates of glucose transport observed. The rate of appearance of glucose in the vascular effluent is determined by the concentration of disaccharide in the luminal fluid, and hexose, free in solution in the lumen, is not an obligatory intermediate in the process of disaccharide absorption.3. For R. pipiens more than 90% of the maltase activity in the system is present in the intestinal wall and the rate of maltose hydrolysis by maltase, free in the intestinal lumen, is found to be inadequate to account for the rates of appearance of glucose observed to occur in the lumen and in the vascular effluent. It is not possible to wash away maltase activity from the intestinal wall.4. The kinetic properties of maltase and trehalase acting in situ are of the Michaelis-Menten type; the apparent K(m) is 2 mM for maltase, and 3 mM for trehalase.5. The relationship which exists between the rate of absorption of glucose and the concentration in the luminal fluid of either disaccharide or free glucose is of the Michaelis-Menten type. Expressed in molar units, the apparent K(m) for the glucose transport is about one fifth that of the disaccharidase. The maximum rate of glucose transport observed is less than the maximum rate of disaccharide hydrolysis. In R. pipiens equimolar concentrations in the intestinal lumen of the monomer free glucose, or of the dimer, maltose, yield approximately equal rates of transport of the free hexose.6. It is concluded that in the amphibian, either intestine disaccharide hydrolysis and glucose transport are functions of separate subcellular systems which spatially are very closely related, or that the hydrolysis and transport are different facets of the activity of a common system.
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PMID:Disaccharide absorption by amphibian small intestine in vitro. 568 31

Diet, dysfunction and disease induce primary and secondary changes in intestinal structure and function. The major techniques used to assess such changes in human and animal intestinal absorption and secretion in situ, in vivo and in vitro are reviewed concisely but critically and the problems of normalisation of the data explored. Exploitation of the various electrical potential differences generated by and across the intestinal epithelium allows the kinetic characterisation of the electrogenic glucose absorption mechanism, the measurement of functional lactase activity, the assessment of the thickness of the unstirred layer, the estimation of intestinal tonic (diffusive permeability and the recording of electrogenic secretion coupled with motility changes in the jejunum, in situ, of conscious man in health and disease. The use of animal intestine has allowed direct and indirect evidence of multiple hexose carriers to be obtained and a new technique allowing corrected kinetic parameters of Km and Jm to be estimated in vivo. Application of the technique to experimental conditions will allow a better assessment of the adaptive capabilities of the enterocytes absorptive functions.
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PMID:Assessing small intestinal function in health and disease in vivo and in vitro. 681 80

The effect of dietary fats on the chemical composition and enzyme activities has been studied in intestinal brush border membranes (BBM) or rats. Animals were given commercial rat pellet diet (RP) or semisynthetic diet rich in either saturated [coconut oil (CCO))] or polyunsaturated [n-6, corn oil (CO) or n-3, fish oil (FO)] fat at the 10% level for 5 weeks. The membrane cholesterol/phospholipid ratio was augmented in CO- or RP-fed rats. There was an increase in level of saturated fatty acids in BBM from CCO- or FO-fed animals. n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid content was raised in FO-fed rats, while the proportion of linoleic acid and arachidonic acid was enhanced in animals given a CO diet. Membrane fluidity was in the order of CCO < RP = CO < FO. The membrane hexose content was high (p < 0.05) in the CCO group. Hexosamines were elevated (p < 0.05) in CCO- or FO-fed rat brush borders. Membrane fucose was unaltered, while sialic acid content was elevated in CO- (p < 0.05) and FO- (p < 0.01) fed vs. CCO-fed rats. Lectin binding to brush borders corroborated these findings. The activities of alkaline phosphatase, sucrase and lactase were augmented (p < 0.001) in CCO-fed animals. Leucine-aminopeptidase and sucrase activities were depressed by FO feeding. The activities of PNP-beta-glycosidases were the highest in FO-fed rats. These results indicate that dietary fat quality markedly affects microvillus membrane lipid composition, glycosylation and enzyme functions in rat intestine.
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PMID:Dietary fat effects on brush border membrane composition and enzyme activities in rat intestine. 900 87

To explore the underlying molecular mechanism whereby nutrients modulate the expression of intestinal digestion/absorption-related genes, we have cloned the 5' flanking regions of two representing disaccharidase genes, i.e. sucrase-isomaltase (SI) and lactase-phlorizin hydrolase (LPH), and investigated whether the binding activity of putative common nuclear factor(s) binding to the cis-elements located in these regions is altered by dietary manipulations. Oro-gastric feeding of a sucrose-containing diet to rats caused parallel increases in SI mRNA and LPH mRNA levels within 3 h. Among the monosaccharides tested, fructose gave rise to the most prominent increase in the mRNA levels of SI and LPH genes, which were accompanied by a coordinate rise in the mRNA levels of two microvillar hexose transporters, i.e. SGLT1 and GLUT5. Nuclear run-on assays revealed that fructose, but not glucose, increased the transcription of SI, LPH and GLUT5. DNase I footprinting analysis of the rat LPH gene showed that the protected region conserved the same sequence as the cis-element (CE-LPH1) reported in the pig LPH gene. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay using CE-LPH1 and the related cis-element of SI gene (SIF1) revealed that nuclear extracts from the jejunum of rats fed the high-starch diet gave greater density of retarded bands than those of rats fed the low-starch diet. Force feeding a fructose diet gave rise to an increase in the binding of the dimeric nuclear protein (Cdx-2) to the SIF1 element. These results suggest that the cis-elements of CE-LPH1 and SIF1 might be involved in the carbohydrate-induced increases of the transcription of LPH and SI, presumably through a change in the expression and/or binding activity of Cdx-2.
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PMID:Regulation of the expression of carbohydrate digestion/absorption-related genes. 1124 78

Lactose (milk sugar) is a fermentable substrate. It can be fermented outside of the body to produce cheeses, yoghurts and acidified milks. It can be fermented within the large intestine in those people who have insufficient expression of lactase enzyme on the intestinal mucosa to ferment this disaccharide to its absorbable, simple hexose sugars: glucose and galactose. In this way, the issues of lactose intolerance and of fermented foods are joined. It is only at the extremes of life, in infancy and old age, in which severe and life-threatening consequences from lactose maldigestion may occur. Fermentation as part of food processing can be used for preservation, for liberation of pre-digested nutrients, or to create ethanolic beverages. Almost all cultures and ethnic groups have developed some typical forms of fermented foods. Lessons from fermentation of non-dairy items may be applicable to fermentation of milk, and vice versa.
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PMID:Fermentation, fermented foods and lactose intolerance. 1255 48

Premature infants receiving chronic total parenteral nutrition (TPN) due to feeding intolerance develop intestinal atrophy and reduced nutrient absorption. Although providing the intestinal trophic hormone glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) during chronic TPN improves intestinal growth and morphology, it is uncertain whether GLP-2 enhances absorptive function. We placed catheters in the carotid artery, jugular and portal veins, duodenum, and a portal vein flow probe in piglets before providing either enteral formula (ENT), TPN or a coinfusion of TPN plus GLP-2 for 6 days. On postoperative day 7, all piglets were fed enterally and digestive functions were evaluated in vivo using dual infusion of enteral ((13)C) and intravenous ((2)H) glucose, in vitro by measuring mucosal lactase activity and rates of apical glucose transport, and by assessing the abundances of sodium glucose transporter-1 (SGLT-1) and glucose transporter-2 (GLUT2). Both ENT and GLP-2 pigs had larger intestine weights, longer villi, and higher lactose digestive capacity and in vivo net glucose and galactose absorption compared with TPN alone. These endpoints were similar in ENT and GLP-2 pigs except for a lower intestinal weight and net glucose absorption in GLP-2 compared with ENT pigs. The enhanced hexose absorption in GLP-2 compared with TPN pigs corresponded with higher lactose digestive and apical glucose transport capacities, increased abundance of SGLT-1, but not GLUT-2, and lower intestinal metabolism of [(13)C]glucose to [(13)C]lactate. Our findings indicate that GLP-2 treatment during chronic TPN maintains intestinal structure and lactose digestive and hexose absorptive capacities, reduces intestinal hexose metabolism, and may facilitate the transition to enteral feeding in TPN-fed infants.
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PMID:Glucagon-like peptide-2 protects against TPN-induced intestinal hexose malabsorption in enterally refed piglets. 1616 44

The carbohydrases (maltase, lactase, sucrase, raffinase, amylase) and lipase (tributyrinase) of the Welch bacillus retain their hydrolytic activities in sterile solutions of the bacterial cells. The demonstration of the carbohydrases and detection of their hexose products constitute experimental proof that Welch bacilli attack complex carbohydrates by way of a preliminary hydrolysis. The result of experiments on the oxidation of the enzymes show that the inhibitory effect of air upon the initiation of growth of the living Welch bacillus does not include a comparable effect upon the activity of its hydrolyzing enzymes.
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PMID:STUDIES ON BACTERIAL ENZYMES : V. THE CARBOHYDRASES AND LIPASE OF THE WELCH BACILLUS. 1986 10

Colon bacilli possess endocellular heat-labile lactase and lipase enzymes which remain operative in sterile filtered solutions of the intracellular substances obtained through physical disintegration the bacillary bodies. The demonstration of the lactase and detection of the hexose products of its action constitute experimental evidence that hydrolysis of the disaccharide is the first step in the fermentation of lactose by colon bacilli.
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PMID:STUDIES ON BACTERIAL ENZYMES : VII. LACTASE AND LIPASE OF THE COLON BACILLUS. 1986 57


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