Intestinal function in mice with small bowel growth induced by
glucagon-like peptide-2.
Brubaker, Patricia L., Angelo Izzo, Mary Hill, and Daniel J. Drucker.
Departments of Physiology and Medicine, University of Toronto,
Toronto ON M5S 1A8 Canada
APStracts 4:0039E, 1997.
Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) stimulates small intestinal growth
through induction of intestinal epithelial proliferation. To examine
the physiology of GLP-2-induced bowel, mice were treated with GLP-2
(2.5 [mu]g) or vehicle for 10 d. Small intestinal weight increased to
136 +/- 2% of controls in GLP-2-treated mice, in parallel with 1.4
+/- 0.1- and 1.9 +/- 0.5-fold increments in duodenal RNA and protein
content, respectively (P<0.05-0.001). Similarly, the
activities of duodenal maltase, sucrase, lactase, _
-glutamyltranspeptidase and dipeptidylpeptidase IV (215 +/- 28% of
controls; P<0.001) were increased by GLP-2. Oral or duodenal
administration of glucose or maltose did not reveal any differences
in the ability of GLP-2-treated mice to absorb these nutrients,
possibly due to decreases in expression of the glucose transporters,
SGLT1 and GLUT2. In contrast, absorption of leucine plus triolein was
increased following duodenal administration in GLP-2-treated mice
(P<0.01-0.001). Finally, GLP-2 did not alter other markers of
intestinal or pancreatic gene expression, including levels of mRNA
transcripts for ornithine decarboxylase, multidrug resistance gene,
amylase, proglucagon, proinsulin and prosomatostatin. Thus, induction
of intestinal growth by GLP-2 in wild-type mice results in a normal-
to increased capacity for nutrient digestion and absorption in vivo.
Received 7 October 1996; accepted in final form 24 January 1997.
APS Manuscript Number E500-6.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Endocrinol. Metab.).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1997 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 20 February 1997