Organ culture of suckling rat intestine: comparative study of various hormones on brush border enzymes.

Jejunal mucosa of 6 d-old rats were cultured for 24 and 48 h in the presence of thyroxine, insulin, pentagastrin, glucagon, epidermal growth factor (EGF) or dibutyryl-A-3:5-MP cyclic with or without dexamethasone (DX). The enzymes were assayed on the purified brush borders. The various agents added alone to the basic culture medium had no effect with the exception of DX on the levels of enzyme activities. Dexamethasone alone induced sucrase, stimulated maltase, and protected other brush border enzyme activities (aminopeptidase, lactase, and alkaline phosphatase). When added to DX-supplemented medium, only the following factors modified the levels of enzymatic activities observed with DX alone. Insulin (10(-6) M) increased maltase, alkaline phosphatase, and lactase activity to a greater extent than DX at 24 h culture, the effect being maintained at 48 h on alkaline phosphatase only. At 48 h culture, both EGF (10(-8) M) and dbcAMP (10(-3) M) decreased DX-induced sucrase activity. The latter agent also depressed DX-stimulated aminopeptidase activity.