AJP - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, Vol 252, Issue 4 466-G471, Copyright © 1987 by American Physiological Society
Role of ornithine decarboxylase in functional development of rat gastric mucosa
N. O. McNiel, B. E. Eikenburg and L. R. Johnson
The effects of inhibiting polyamine synthesis on the functional development
of the gastric mucosa were studied in rats from 5 to 40 days old. They were
treated from day 14 after birth with alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO)
at a concentration of 2% in the drinking water of mothers and pups. The
rats were weaned on day 18. Basal acid and pepsin secretion, oxyntic gland
mucosal pepsinogen content, and antral gastrin content followed similar
developmental patterns in control animals. Levels of these parameters
remained measurable but low until around the time of weaning, when dramatic
log linear rises were observed. DFMO failed to delay the onset of the rises
in any of these maturational indices. Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC)
activity in the oxyntic gland mucosa was low but discernible in rats of
every age studied. DFMO significantly reduced ODC activity at every age
except 40 days, where there was no difference from control values. Our
results suggest that ODC activity in the rat gastric mucosa does not change
appreciably during neonatal development and that inhibiting putrescine
synthesis from its precursor ornithine by DFMO treatment does not prevent
or delay gastric mucosal maturation.
