Oral epidermal growth factor is trophic for the stomach in the neonatal rat.

The stomach of the naturally suckled rat pup was shown to grow rapidly during the first 24 h following delivery. Both absolute weight (p less than 0.001) and weight in proportion to body weight (p less than 0.001) increased. The stomachs of pups fed formula containing epidermal growth factor (EGF) were larger than those of their control littermates (p less than 0.05). These data support a role for milk EGF in the regulation of neonatal gut growth.