Alkaline Phosphatase Activity of Duodenal Enterocytes After Neonatal Administration of Monosodium Glutamate to Rats

Š. MOZEŠ, Ľ. LENHARDT¹, A. MARTINKOVÁ

Institute of Animal Physiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences and ¹Department of Pathology, Veterinary University, Košice, Slovak Republic

Received April 16, 1999
Accepted July 12, 1999

Summary
In the present work neonatal male and female Wistar rats were treated intraperitoneally with monosodium glutamate (MSG 2 mg/kg b.w.) or saline (controls) daily for 4 day after birth. At the age of 30 and 80 days, the alkaline phosphatase activity (AP) in the brush border of individual enterocytes, the body fat content and Lee´s index of obesity were analyzed. Microdensitometrical quantification of AP was significantly increased on day 30 in males (P<0.01) and on day 80 in MSG-treated male and female rats (P<0.001) as compared to the controls. MSG administration also increased the body fat weight and the obesity index significantly (P<0.001) in 80-day-old animals, but was without any significant effect on their food intake. Our results showed that a) neonatal MSG-treatment may significantly change the intestinal function and b) the investigation of the intestinal enzyme activities may be important in further studies on MSG-induced and other forms of obesity.

Alkaline phosphatase activity · Duodenal enterocytes · Monosodium glutamate · Obesity · Rat

Dr. Š. Mozeš, Institute of Animal Physiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Šoltesovej 4, 040 01 Košice, Slovak Republic. E mail: mozes@mail.saske.sk, martink@mail.saske.sk