Alkaline phosphatases and adenylate cyclase in the normal and desensitized rat small intestine after acute cholera toxin challenge: a histochemical study
Jennische, E.; Hansson, H.A.
Medical Biology 63(4): 182-186
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0302-2137 PMID: 4094483 Document Number: 245696
The effect of cholera toxin (CT)-challenge on histochemically demonstrable activities of adenylate cyclase and alkaline phosphatase was investigated in rat small intestine, using an intestinal loop model. CT-challenge increased the activities of adenylate cyclase and alkaline phosphatases within 15 minutes, and the changes were confined to enterocytes in the upper third parts of the villi. There was no change in the staining of the crypt cells. There was an increased basal activity of both adenylate cyclase and alkaline phosphatases in animals desensitized to cholera toxin by multiple peroral exposures. CT-challenge in the desensitized rats did not further increase the enzyme activity. It is concluded that desensitization to secretagogues induces profound alterations in the cell systems responsible for fluid secretion.