RESUMEN
Rats fed a diet containing 2.5% sodium saccharin (NaSacc) displayed a rapid (24-36 hr) increase in tryptic and chymotryptic activity in the lower half of the small intestine and the cecum compared with control animals. Cecal pH of rats fed NaSacc was lower than controls. The effect of NaSacc on enzymatic activity of intestinal contents and on indigenous bacterial microflora was studied further in vitro. Intestinal contents incubated anaerobically with or without NaSacc revealed that the presence of NaSacc led to higher tryptic and chymotryptic activity and higher final pH. Changes in pH do not appear, however, to be important for the increased proteolytic activity induced by NaSacc since autodigestion of trypsin and chymotrypsin in filter-sterilized samples was only slightly affected by pH during in vitro incubation. Amylolytic activity, on the other hand, was stabilized by higher pH values. Saccharin stabilized chymotryptic and led to almost complete loss of amylolytic activity during incubation of filter-sterilized samples maintained at adjusted pH values. The amount of reducing sugars remaining in the NaSacc-containing contents from either cecum (in vivo) or from in vitro incubation of unsterilized small intestinal samples was greater than controls not containing NaSacc. The growth of six bacterial strains isolated from small intestinal contents and incubated in laboratory media was inhibited by NaSacc. Extracellular proteolytic activity from bacterial sources was undetectable after incubation of intestinal bacteria in laboratory media. The present results suggest that the effect of NaSacc upon digestive enzyme composition in the small intestine of rats is not mediated through a direct physiological effect of NaSacc on pancreatic exocrine secretion. It is hypothesized that an inhibition of enzymatic activity by NaSacc in the small intestine and the bacteriostatic effect of NaSacc on bacteria may be responsible for the increased proteolytic activity observed in vivo in the cecum following the feeding of a NaSacc-containing diet to rats.