Responses of intestinal and renal alpha-glycosidases to alloxan and streptozotocin-induced diabetes: A comparative study

Experimentally induced diabetes in the rat resulted in an increased level of alpha-glycosidases in the intestine but a depression in their levels in the kidney. Rat intestine exhibited a differential stimulation of maltase, sucrase and trehalase activities. The variations depended on the duration of diabetes and the β-cytotoxic compounds used i.e. alloxan and streptozotocin. The maximum elevation in terms of total units and specific activity was observed on the 30th day in the following order: maltase > sucrase > trehalase. A significant observation emerging from this study is that the level of intestinal enzymes increases while that of the kidney enzymes declined during the period. Although intestinal and renal alpha-glycosidases are known to be structurally and biochemically similar, their opposing responses to diabetes indicates that they are under different regulatory mechanisms in these tissues.