Absorption of horseradish peroxidase by the principal cells of the large intestines of postnatal developing rats.

The absorption of horseradish peroxidase in the rat large intestine during the postnatal developing period was investigated by cytochemical and ultrastructural methods. In the ceca and ascending colons from 4-, and 5-day-old rats, intraluminaly injected peroxidase became localised on microvilli, in the intracytoplasmic network of the apical tubules and small vacuoles (tubulo-vacuolar system), in the large supranuclear vacuole, in the Golgi apparatus, on the lateral and basal cell membranes of the surface principal cells, and also in the lumen of blood capillaries in the subjacent propria. On the other hand, the protein tracer was not seen in the large intestinal epithelial cells that lack tubulo-vacuolar systems and large supranuclear vacuoles within their cytoplasm. In the descending colons of rats of any postnatal age, the epithelial principal cells are devoid of these membrane systems, and exogenous peroxidase was not detected in the cytoplasm of the principal cells. It is assumed that at least the proximal portion of the large intestine in neonatal animals has the capacity to absorb macromolecular protein through those surface principal cells that have specialized intracellular membrane systems.