Dietary Spermidine and Spermine Participate in the Maturation of Galactosyltransferase Activity and Glycoprotein Galactosylation in Rat Small Intestine

Abstract

This study considered the role of dietary polyamines in the maturation of intestinal glycoprotein galactosylation during postnatal development. In the rat small intestine, O-glycan: beta-1,3-galactosyltransferase and N-glycan: beta-1,4-galactosyltransferase are, respectively, involved in the glycan chain biosynthesis of mucins and of glycoproteins in the brush border membranes. Their activities increase significantly at weaning, in parallel with a rise in the intestinal content of spermidine and spermine (as determined by high performance liquid chromatography) and in proportion to the polyamine increase in food intake. The oral ingestion of spermidine or spermine (at 0.4 micromol/g body) by immature suckling rats for 4 d reproduced the levels of spermine and spermidine in their intestines at the time of weaning and induced precocious and significant rises in O-glycan: and N-glycan: galactosyltransferase activities to those normally found after weaning. In parallel, more galactose residues (detected in the complex oligosaccharide chains of glycoproteins by specific lectins after electrophoresis and transfer to nitrocellulose membranes) were observed in the brush border membranes of spermidine- and spermine-treated rats. In contrast, the ingestion of putrescine or ornithine had no effect. Diets with different levels of polyamines (milks and commercial diet), when given at weaning, induced variable evolutions of the galactosylation process, partly in relation to the amounts of polyamines ingested. These results indicate that spermidine and spermine are maturation factors that can reproduce, in immature rats, the same increase in intestinal glycoprotein galactosylation that is normally observed during weaning. They also suggest that the maturation of glycoprotein galactosylation may be a multifactorial event in which spermidine and spermine are both involved.

Modulation of indomethacin‐induced gastric injury by spermine and taurine in rats

“…However, spermine significantly elevated gastric mucin content. This effect of spermine adds to its gastroprotective potential that might be attributed to enhancement of uridine diphosphate (UDP)-galactose: mucin galactosyltransferase activity, a key enzyme for the synthesis of mucin, as previously demonstrated in rat small intestine [40]. In addition, spermine stimulates gastrin release through activation of the calcium-sensing receptor on the G cell [41], which, in turn, stimulates mucin production [42].…”

Tailoring recombinant protein quality by rational media design

“…The results show that both medium and feed supplementation of galactose analogs, a polyamine and a non proteinogenic amino acid consistently and specifically reduced the level of galactosylation in fed-batch cultures. A report described the role of spermine in the maturation of intestinal galactosylation in rat intestine, showing that the amount of digested polyamines correlated with increased galactosyltransferase activity 239 . Interestingly, in the same study spermine had no influence on the galactosyltransferase activity in vitro.…”

Feeding rats a high fat/carbohydrate ratio diet reduces jejunal S/I activity ratio and unsialylated galactose on glycosylated chain of S–I complex

“…In the small intestine, both enzyme activities are detected (Biol-N'garagba et al 2003;Greco et al 2001). In addition, a recent study has shown that activities of both β-1,4-GalT and β-1,3-GalT in the small intestine were reduced by feeding weanling rats dietary fat (Lenoir et al 2000).…”