[Molecular aspects of the adaptation of pancreatic and intestinal enzymes to dietary regimens].

The levels of digestive enzymes are known for a long time to be modulated by dietary manipulations as well as genetic and hormonal factors. Adaptation of both types of enzymes, secretory pancreatic hydrolases and intestinal membrane-bound enzymes, to changes in diet has been shown to result from specific variations in the rate of their biosynthesis. As a first step towards the elucidation of the mechanism underlying adaptation of pancreatic enzymes to nutritional substrates we have measured the levels of translatable mRNAs coding for amylase, lipase, serine proteases and procarboxypeptidases. Our results indicate that dietary regulation occurs at a transcriptional level but also involves in some cases changes in mRNA stability. With respect to intestinal enzymes, reliable quantitative data were obtained by activity determination and monodimensional immunoelectrophoresis in response to changes in diet.