Effect of cholinergic stimulation on the distribution of amylase activity.

Abstract

The amylase activity was measured in the several tissues and plasma after pancreatectomy in the rat. Pancreatectomy decreased the alpha-amylase content of the blood and several tissues in the rat, whereas the amylase activity did not change in the submandibular gland. Especially, the content of the small intestine lost about 99% of its amylase activity as did the small intestinal mucosa. After cholinergic stimulation, the amylase activity in several tissues and plasma tended to increase but the increase was not statistically significant. Only the enzyme activity in the lumen of the small intestine and distal intestine increased substantially after cholinergic stimulation. However, the maximal concentration in the small intestine was still only 2% of that in the normal non-pancreatectomized animal. The data suggest that the absence of the dramatic increase in the amylase activity in the plasma and several tissues that was observed in the normal rat after this pattern of cholinergic stimulation was due to the absence of the potential source of amylase, the pancreas.