Intestinal epithelial cell surface glycosylation in mice. 1. Effect of low-protein diet

Mice fed on an 8% protein (low-protein; LP) diet for 21 days exhibited a significant (p less than 0.001) decrease in their body weights compared with the pair-fed controls (18% protein). Brush border enzyme analysis revealed a 56% increase in sucrase activity and a significant decrease in alkaline phosphatase (p less than 0.05), beta-D-glucosidase (p less than 0.001) and beta-D-galactosidase (p less than 0.05) activities in protein-deficient mice. Lactase activity was unaltered in these conditions. Hexose and hexosamine contents of the brush border membranes (BBM) decreased considerably as a result of the LP diet. Protein deprivation significantly enhanced (p less than 0.01) brush border sialic acid and reduced (p less than 0.05) fucose content compared to the controls. The binding of 125I-labelled wheat germ agglutinin and Ulex europaeus agglutinin I to BBM was in agreement with the data on sialic acid and fucose levels of the membranes. The binding of peanut agglutinin to BBM was 38% higher in LP-diet-fed animals. The incorporation of [14C]mannose and [14C]glucosamine into BBM was markedly reduced (25%), while that of [3H]fucose was apparently unaffected. These results suggest that the feeding of an LP diet to mice results in marked alterations in the intestinal epithelial cell surface glycosylation.