EFFECT ON THE RAT PANCREAS OF FEEDINGDL-ETHIONINE, WITH AND WITHOUT ADENOSINE TRIPHOSPHATE, FOR 1 TO 10 DAYS

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Abstract
Previous investigations had suggested that DL-ethionine stimulates synthesis of pancreatic enzymes in rats. To learn more about the mechanism of this apparent effect of ethionine on the pancreas, a study was conducted in which rats were fed a low-protein diet containing 0.25% DL-ethionine. Resting and stimulated pancreatic enzyme activities were compared with control values and with those from another group fed ethionine and injected daily with 125 mg adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Rats fed the ethionine diet for 10 days lost nearly all of their pancreatic enzyme activities, and when they were fasted the enzyme levels were not restored. Administration of ATP did not prevent this effect of ethionine. Rats fed ethionine alone or with ATP for 1 day had twice the pancreatic lipase activity as the controls. When the pancreases of these animals were stimulated to secrete, enzyme discharge in response to the stimulus was delayed, and intestinal enzyme activities remained lower than in controls. Pancreatic enzyme activities increased above those of control rats within 6 hours after the ethionine diet was fed. The high enzyme activities in these animals after 1 day on ethionine appeared to have resulted, therefore, from impaired secretion of the enzymes rather than from increased enzyme synthesis. ATP failed to counteract the ethionine-induced pancreatic damage in either the short-term or 10-day experiments.

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