Role of glucocorticoids on the maturation of brush border enzymes in fetal rat gut endoderm

Abstract
Heterospecific recombinants between fetal rat intestinal endoderm and chick mesenchyme, and also undissociated fetal rat intestine, were submitted to different hormonal environments. The present study shows that exogenouslysupplied dexamethasone in organ culture, like endogenous hormones provided by the adult rat (grafting experiments) led to similar qualitative and quantitative results, i.e., a 9-fold stimulation of maltase and a precocious induction of sucrase activity in comparison with anhormonal conditions.