Induction of precocious intestinal maturation in T-cell deficient athymic neonatal rats

Table 1 Effects of luminal provocation with phytohaemagglutinin or protease on growth and precocious gut maturation in suckling 17 d old nude rats nurtured either by their mothers or by conventional foster dams

	Nude/Nude					Nude/SD
	Control		PHA		Control		PHA		PHAx3		Prot		Protx3
Number of individuals (n)3	9-10		11		5		5		8		4		7
Body weight (g)	23.03 ± 9.26	ns4	23.64 ± 7.80	ns5	26.62 ± 1.56		26.88 ± 0.81	ns5	28.30 ± 1.69	a5	27.78 ± 1.04	ns5	28.63 ± 1.28	b5
Organs weight (mg/g2.wt6)
Stomach	6.5 ± 0.9	ns	7.0 ± 0.6	ns	6.1 ± 0.5		7.0 ± 0.3	ns	6.8 ± 0.5	ns	6.3 ± 0.4	ns	6.2 ± 0.2	ns
SI length (cm)	2.1 ± 0.7	ns	2.2 ± 0.5	ns	1.8 ± 0.1		1.9 ± 0.0	ns	1.9 ± 0.1	ns	2.0 ± 0.1	ns	1.8 ± 0.1	ns
Proximal SI	17.0 ± 1.9	P < 0.05	22.0 ± 1.8	c	15.0 ± 0.6		22.8 ± 1.5	d	22.0 ± 1.1	d	22.8 ± 1.1	c1	18.7 ± 1.3	d
Distal SI	13.9 ± 1.4	ns	15.7 ± 1.4	a	13.2 ± 0.4		16.4 ± 1.0	d	18.0 ± 1.2	d	17.7 ± 1.1	d	16.0 ± 1.3	d
Caecum	2.4 ± 0.6	ns	3.0 ± 0.4	ns	2.0 ± 0.2		2.9 ± 0.5	ns	2.7 ± 0.3	ns	2.8 ± 0.4	ns	2.8 ± 0.3	ns
Spleen	4.4 ± 0.6	ns	4.4 ± 0.8	ns	4.4 ± 0.4		4.4 ± 0.2	ns	4.5 ± 0.2	ns	5.4 ± 0.3	ns	4.5 ± 0.2	ns
Liver	38.8 ± 3.2	P < 0.05	36.5 ± 2.1	a	34.9 ± 1.2		36.3 ± 1.6	a	36.4 ± 1.3	b	37.0 ± 0.8	b	36.2 ± 1.1	b
Pancreatic function:
Pancreas (mg/g b.wt)	3.3 ± 0.8	ns	3.8 ± 0.4	ns	2.7 ± 0.3		3.3 ± 0.3	ns	3.3 ± 0.3	ns	3.5 ± 0.3	ns	3.3 ± 0.3	ns
Trypsin (U/mg wet wt7)	2.8 ± 1.5	ns	5.5 ± 1.2	c	2.8 ± 1.1		8.5 ± 1.7	d	6.5 ± 0.9	d	6.8 ± 0.9	d	3.5 ± 0.9	ns
Protein (μg/mg wet wt7)	70.2 ± 24.0	ns	64.3 ± 15.5	ns	65.4 ± 8.4		97.3 ± 10.7	c	92.8 ± 16.0	c	85.3 ± 6.9	a	74.5 ± 5.2	ns
Trypsin (U/mg Protein)	43.1 ± 19.1	ns	91.8 ± 34.5	b	42.3 ± 17.0		89.5 ± 25.5	c	70.7 ± 10.7	a	79.5 ± 8.5	b	47.6 ± 13.2	ns
Morphometry:(n)	-3		-4		-5		-5		-7		-4		-7
Proximal SI: Villi height	375 ± 55	ns	440 ± 21	ns	394 ± 23		457 ± 24	b	452 ± 20	a	394 ± 47	ns	418 ± 34	ns
Villi width	117 ± 16	ns	123 ± 16	ns	107 ± 10		113 ± 10	ns	105 ± 12	ns	113 ± 17	ns	120 ± 8	ns
Crypt depth	70 ± 3	ns	83 ± 7.0	a	61 ± 4.0		81 ± 7.0	b	81 ± 13	b	64 ± 6	ns	68 ± 8	ns
VH/CD	5.4 ± 0.6	ns	5.3 ± 0.4	ns	6.5 ± 0.6		5.7 ± 0.8	ns	5.7 ± 0.9	ns	6.2 ± 0.7	ns	6.2 ± 0.6	ns
Distal SI: Villi height	362 ± 11	ns	356 ± 14	ns	365 ± 58		370 ± 27	ns	426 ± 52	ns	374 ± 31	ns	379 ± 35	ns
Villi width	99 ± 4	ns	100 ± 11	ns	91 ± 12		91 ± 13	ns	97 ± 8.0	ns	91 ± 9	ns	91 ± 7.0	ns
Crypt depth	68 ± 5	ns	72 ± 3.0	ns	56 ± 6.0		71 ± 7.0	b	72 ± 6.0	b	69 ± 7	a	69 ± 7.0	b
VH/CD	5.3 ± 0.3	P < 0.05	4.9 ± 0.2	ns	6.5 ± 0.5		5.3 ± 0.7	a	6.0 ± 1.0	ns	5.5 ± 0.2	ns	5.5 ± 0.2	a

¹Nude 14 d old rat pups were treated by gavage with PHA or water (Control) and reared by their own nude mothers (Nude/Nude); ²Nude 14-day-old rat pups gavaged with PHA once or once a day for 3 days (PHAx3), a protease once (Prot) or once a day for 3 d (Protx3) or water (Control) and fostered by conventional Sprague-Dawley (SD) dams (Nude/SD);

³Data presented as mean ± SD;

⁴Statistical differences between treatment groups compared to control group within the same nursing set;

⁵Statistical differences between control groups from different nursing sets (Nude/Nude compared to Nude/SD). P < 0.05 or non-significant (ns); ⁶Organ weights expressed per body weight (mg/g b.wt);

⁷Pancreatic trypsin activity (U/mg) and protein content expressed per pancreatic wet weight (µg/mg). ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001, ^dP < 0.0001 or non-significant (ns). PHA: phytohaemagglutinin.