Pancreatic Enzyme Pattern in Rats as Affected by Dietary Soybean Flour

Abstract

Adaptation of exocrine pancreatic enzymes of the rat to soybean flour (SBF) was examined. It was found that the pancreas of rats fed diets containing unheated SBF and then fasted contained less amylase, similar amounts of lipase and esterase, and more trypsinogen and chymotrypsinogen than the pancreas of rats that had been fed heated SBF and then fasted. Pancreatic lipase, esterase and amylase activities were lower in nonfasted rats fed unheated SBF than in those fed heated SBF, and tryptic and chymotryptic activities in these rats were unaffected by diet. Higher enzymatic activities were found in the pancreas of fasted rats adapted to either heated or unheated SBF than in the pancreas of nonfasting rats. Diets containing unheated SBF seem to induce an adaptive response of the pancreas similar to that elicited by pancreozymin. Column chromatographic fractionation on ion exchange cellulose and sephadex of pancreatic extracts of fed and fasted rats indicated a difference in enzyme pattern in the pancreas of rats fed unheated or heated SBF.