Abstract
Summary
Three metabolic activities of sloughed epithelial cells of the dog jejunum were investigated. Sloughed epithelial cells as well as cells in the extrusion zone of the villus took up Nigrosin stain, while cells further down on the villus did not. Furthermore, sloughed cells did not incorporate acetate into non-saponinable lipid, whereas an equal number of cells in an intact intestinal slice did. Nonetheless, the particulate fraction of the succus entericus contained 95% of the total sucrase and alkaline phosphatase activity, and the sucrase activity was stable during incubation with the intestinal secretion. Based on this stability of sucrase and on the use of a simple flushing procedure, a dependable in vivo method of determining the sloughing rate is described.
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