Effect of ingested winged bean lectin on gastrointestinal function in the rat.

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to provide further evidence for mechanisms proposed for the toxicity of ingested winged bean lectin in animals: to determine its effect on activities of some hydrolases localized in the brush border membrane of the small intestine. An adaptive increase in sucrase activity of rats given a high-sucrose diet (HSD) was restrained by the addition to HSD of a lectin fraction (WBLF) isolated from raw winged beans but not by that of heated WBLF or soybean trypsin inhibitor. Restraining effects of WBLF added to HSD on time-course changes in activities of sucrase, alkaline phosphatase and leucine aminopeptidase of rats after giving HSD were similar to those of concanavalin A, which had been observed in the previous study. These results substantiate that the mechanism of the toxicity of ingested winged bean lectin involves its binding to the luminal surface of the small intestine and in turn disturbing the functional formation of the brush border membrane.