RESUMO
We evaluated effect of sialadenectomy on hexokinase activity and on rates of lactate formation and of [U-14C] glucose decarboxylation in 3 cellular fractions of the small intestine epithelium from male adult mice. The surgery was carried out under ether anesthesia and a sham-operated group was used as control. There cell fractions were obtained by shaking the inverted small intestine: 1) tip of the villus, 2) villus and crypt cells. Five days after sialadenectomy, hexokinase activity was reduced in fractions (3.53 ñ 0.65 vs 1.98 ñ 0.25 nmol min-1 mg protein-1, expressed as mean ñ SEM for 7 mice) and 3 (5.01 ñ 0.55 vs 3.15 ñ 0.42 nmol min-1 mg protein-1, mean ñ SEM for 7 mice). After removal of the submandibular glands, the rates of lactate formation were decreased in fractions 2 (4.16 ñ 0.54 vs 2.30 ñ 0.25, mean ñ SEM for 10 and 11 mice, respectively) and 3 (1.74 ñ 0.24 vs 0.87 ñ 0.14 mean ñ SEM for 13 mice) and the rates of [U-14C] glucose decarboxylation were reduced in fraction 1 (1.14 ñ 0.12 vs 0.61 ñ 0.10, mean ñ SEM for 11 and 12 mice, respectively). We conclude that the secretion submandibular glands plays a physiological role in the control of glucose metabolism in enterocytes