1999 Volume 45 Issue 1 Pages 107-118
To determine the nutritional role of nucleotides, the in vitro and in vivo effects of exogenous nucleotides on the development of intes-tine were investigated. First, the in vitro effects of nucleotides on the proliferation and maturation of enterocytes were studied by using a human colon tumor cell line (Caco-2) and a rat normal small intestinal crypt cell line (IEC-6). Second, the in vivo effects of nucleotides were also studied in early weaned rats fed nucleotide-unsupplemented or high-nucleotide-supplemented diet. Nucleotide composition resembled that of human milk (CMP:UMP:AMP:IMP:GMP=10:1:1:1:1, in weight). Nucleotide supplement did not enhance Caco-2 cells proliferation; however, it sig-nificantly enhanced maltase and sucrase activities. In contrast, nucleo-tides supplement enhanced IEC-6 cells proliferation and maltase activity. CMP, predominantly contained in the mixture, enhanced most effectively the proliferation and maturation of cells. In the in vivo experiment, nu-cleotides significantly enhanced sucrase activity in the intestinal mucosa of early weaned rats. The results presented here suggest that a nucleotide supplement may enhance enterocyte proliferation and/or maturation in vivo and in vitro. Therefore exogenous nucleotides may play an impor-tant role in the development of the intestine.