Acute starvation and suckling rat pancreas. Effect on exocrine pancreas and role of corticosteroids.

Starving of rat pups at the 5th or 10th day of life for three days led to lower body and pancreatic weights compared to age-matched controls. When compared to the weights before fasting, only the 5-day-old pups showed increases in pancreatic protein and DNA contents despite food deprivation. Pancreatic acinar responsiveness to carbachol stimulation was not affected. Accumulations of amylase and lipase in the pancreas of the rat pups were increased by fasting, with an accompanied surge in the level of serum corticosterone. In 10-day-old rat pups, injection with aminoglutethimide (AG), a drug which suppresses steroidogenesis, prevented the enzymatic increases and concomitantly suppressed the serum total corticosterone levels at 12 and 24 hr after the onset of fasting. These results strongly support the role of corticosterone in the modulation of the pancreatic adaptation to food deprivation in the suckling rat.