Growth Inhibition and Small Intestinal Lesions in Rats after Feeding with Isolated Winged Bean Lectin

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Abstract
A fraction possessing high hemagglutinating activity, hut with a negligible degree of trypsin inhibitory activity, was prepared from raw winged bean seeds and orally administered to growing rats in a basal diet containing 10% casein. The food intake and body weights of these rats decreased as the level of lectin increased, and significant hemagglutinating activity was found in the faeces excreted from these rats with an antigenicity identical with that of the native lectin before its administration. A high incidence of mortality was observed at higher levels of lectin within a short period. Lectin which had been autoclaved prior to feeding produced growth comparable to that from the casein diet. It was thus confirmed that the lectin plays an important role in the deleterious and lethal effect of raw winged bean on rats. A 10% level of lectin in the basal diet caused a significant decrease in the activities of such intestinal enzymes as sucrase, maltase, alkaline phosphatase, leucine aminopeptidae and γ-glutamyltransferase, and also serious damage to the intestinal mucosa of the rats. The toxic effects of winged bean lectin on rats were consequently suggested to be initiated by its binding action to the intestinal epithelial cells and to result in an impairment of the ability of these cells for digestion and/or absorption of the nutrients, hindering the normal maturation process of the epithelial cells.

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