Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.2.1.20 (alpha-glucosidase)
 4,237 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Oral feeding of DL-difluoromethyl ornithine (DFMO) (2% in water ad libitum) for 14 days has no detectable effect on the small intestine of adult rats. Similar feeding of DFMO to weanling rat pups caused diarrhea in three to four days accompanied by a decrease in food consumption and body weight compared to age-matched controls. Significant decreases in small intestinal mucosal weight, total protein, DNA, enterokinase, leucine amino peptidase, sucrase, and maltase contents were observed in the DFMO-treated group four days after treatment. Extending the treatment to seven days led to a more severe reduction in these parameters. Villous atrophy of the mucosa was demonstrable by light microscopy and morphometric measurements. The mucosa of the DFMO-treated rat pups showed a reduction in total thickness and villous height but no change in crypt depth. A significant reduction in villus-crypt ratio was also seen. Changes in small intestinal mucosal parameters were not due to a decrease in food intake since pair-fed, age-matched rat pups showed no biochemical changes compared to control pups. DFMO-treated weanling rats showed less than 5% of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity when compared to age-matched control animals. The effects observed on the small intestinal mucosa are presumably due to inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase activities by DFMO which prevents the proliferation, regeneration, and maturation of epithelial cells. The relative insensitivity of the adult rat small intestine to DFMO treatment suggests a lesser dependence of its intestinal mucosa to ODC activities.
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PMID:Effect of difluoromethyl ornithine (DFMO) on small intestine of adult and weanling rats. 311 4

The relative merits of a comprehensive series of contemporary methods for detection of acute nephrotoxicity were evaluated. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, or 3.0 mg mercuric chloride (HgCl2)/kg body weight by ip injection. Indices of nephrotoxicity were examined 8, 24, 48, 72, and 96 h later. Alterations in urine osmolality, volume, and protein levels were seen within 24 h in response to 1 mg/kg or more of HgCl2. Administration of 0.5-3.0 mg/kg produced dose-dependent increases in urinary excretion of maltase activity and glucose by 24 h, the period of peak effect. There was no increase in maltase or alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity in the serum of these animals. Enzymuria was not apparent in rats that had marked elevations in serum AP, argininosuccinate lyase, and ornithine carbamyl transferase activities as a result of physical (i.e., dichlorodifluoromethane-frozen) or chemical (carbon tetrachloride-induced) damage of the liver. Morphological alterations, in the proximal tubular epithelium of perfusion-fixed kidneys from HgCl2-dosed rats, paralleled the changes in enzyme excretion with respect to time of onset and dose-effect. There was a dose-dependent inhibition of tetraethylammonium (TEA) and p-aminohippurate (PAH) uptake by renal cortical slices at 24 h. Interestingly, increases in uptake of TEA and PAH were seen 8 h after a 1-mg/kg dose. Clearance of inulin and PAH in vivo were altered at 8 h by 0.5 and 1 mg/kg. Marked depression of these functional indices was seen at 24 h, by which time blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels were increased. The 0.5- and 1.0-mg/kg doses also produced time- and dose-dependent increases in intracellular Na+ content which were maximal at 24 h. These results illustrate the importance of using a combination of biochemical and functional tests to elucidate the sequence of events in the kidney following toxic insult. Nevertheless, some of the simpler, traditional techniques (e.g., histopathology, urinalyses, BUN) were sensitive and organ-specific, and should continue to be very useful in nephrotoxicity testing/screening.
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PMID:Assessment of functional, morphological, and enzymatic tests for acute nephrotoxicity induced by mercuric chloride. 622 7

The effect of repeated oral administration of prostaglandin analogue (dmPGE2) on intestinal macromolecular transport and digestive enzymes development were investigated in the suckling rats. By the administration of dmPGE2 for 7 days, precocious induction of maltase activity, depression of amylase activity and enhancement of trypsin activity in the pancreas occurred. Absorption of bovine IgG was dose dependently depressed by dmPGE2 treatments. The intestinal cessation was also observed in the adrenalectomized pups, but was not influenced by difluoromethyl ornithine administration. These results suggest that oral administration of PGE2 induces precocious maturation of the small intestine and exocrine pancreas and that the intestinal cessation is not directly related to ornithine decarboxylase activity in the suckling rats.
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PMID:Precocious cessation of intestinal macromolecular transport and digestive enzymes development by prostaglandin E2 in suckling rats. 752 52

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