Abstract
The effect of microgravity on functional development of the small intestine of Japanese quails incubated for 2-3 d and hatched on the orbital station MIR was examined. After 5 d of space flight duodenal and jejunal alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity of the experimental group was compared with the AP activity in quails of the same age hatched on the Earth (laboratory controls). Short-term microgravity leading to decreased food intake resulted in significant increase of AP activity in both duodenal and jejunal enterocytes (P<0.001) of the experimental quails. The results suggest that increased AP activity probably reflects the delayed functional development of the small intestine as a consequence of inappropriate food intake during non-physiological conditions of space flight.
Highlights
The effect of microgravity on functional development of the small intestine of Japanese quails incubated for 2-3 d and hatched on the orbital station MIR was examined
Comparison of the experimental groups with their Earth controls revealed that 5 days after hatching on orbital station the activity of alkaline phosphatase (AP) was significantly increased as evidenced by 30 % and 45 % higher activity (p < 0.001) in duodenal and jejunal enterocytes
Quantitative histochemical analysis of the brush-border-bound duodenal and jejunal alkaline phosphatase activity studied in the present experiment has provided information about the intestinal function in Japanese quails especially in relation to the effect of microgravity
Summary
The effect of microgravity on functional development of the small intestine of Japanese quails incubated for 2-3 d and hatched on the orbital station MIR was examined. The results suggest that increased AP activity probably reflects the delayed functional development of the small intestine as a consequence of inapropriate food intake during non-physiological conditions of space flight. No information is available about AP in Japanese quails or about the effects of non-physiological factors in relation to space flight on the functional development of their small intestine. In present study the AP activity in the brush-border of duodenal and jejunal enterocytes of Japanese quails hatched after 2-3 days of incubation and followed by a 5 day- space-flight on the “MIR” orbital station was compared with enzyme activity in animals incubated and hatched on Earth under laboratory conditions
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