Structural and biochemical differentiation of the mammalian small intestine during foetal development

Microscopical studies showed that initial differentiation of the guinea-pig small intestine occurs between days 35 and 55 of foetal development. Changes observed at this time include formation of villi (by day 42), elaboration of submucosal duodenal Brunner's glands (by day 49) and the appearance of a well-developed microvillus membrane (by day 56). Different microvillus membrane-associated hydrolases appear at different stages of foetal and postnatal development. The 'early' enzymes such as aminopeptidase, alkaline phosphatase and sucrase show a sharp increase and reach their maximal levels between days 35 and 50, whereas the late enzymes such as dipeptidyl peptidase IV and lactase increase gradually between days 35 and 50, and reach maximal activity between days 50 and 60. A combination of techniques involving precipitation with Mg2+ followed by fractionation on sucrose density gradients has enabled us to prepare, for the first time, a 21-fold enriched microvillus membrane fraction from the foetal intestine. Polypeptide analysis of this membrane fraction by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed the presence of developmentally specific polypeptides at different stages of foetal and postnatal development. Three polypeptides of molecular weights 205 000, 80 000 and 47 000 are major microvillus membrane components at the 40-day foetal stage. Two other polypeptides of molecular weights 60 000 and 131 000 are major microvillar components at 56-day and older foetal stages as well as at the 3-day neonatal stage. The adult microvillus membrane contained 112 000 and 122 000 Mr polypeptides as major components. The above results were confirmed using two-dimensional isoelectric focussing-sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic techniques.