Changes in pancreatic and intestinal enzyme activities following chenodeoxycholic acid feeding

The effect of CDCA feeding on pancreatic and intestinal enzymes was studied. Mice were fed 0.5% w/w chenodeoxycholic acid in a normal diet. Pancreatic lipase concentration was significantly increased after 3 days on the CDCA diet, while amylase and trypsin concentrations were significantly higher at 23 days when compared with the controls. At 70 days there was a significant increase in the concentrations of amylase, trypsin, and lipase. Protein concentrations paralleled the rise in enzyme levels. Amylase and lipase, when measured as specific activities, were still higher than the controls at 70 days. Intestinal amylase levels did not change during the experiments, but intestinal alpha-glucosidase activity increased significantly in the CDCA-treated animals. The results are discussed in terms of their similarity with those reported to occur after feeding soybean trypsin inhibitor.