Effect of Mouse Epidermal Growth Factor/Urogastrone on the Functional Maturation of Rat Intestine*

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Abstract
Mouse epidermal growth factor/urogastrone (EGF/UG), administered sc in a dose of 0.1 μg/g BW twice daily for 3 days, increased intestinal weight per unit length, lactase specific activity, and net calcium transport in normal 2-weekold suckling rats, but had no effect on maltase or sucrase specific activity. In normal 3-week-old weanling rats, the intestinal function of which is essentially fully mature, EGF/UG had no effect. These results suggest that EGF/UG, either secreted endogenously or ingested in breast milk, may have a role in both the morphological and functional maturation of the suckling rat intestine.