Maltase-glucoamylase and residual isomaltase in sucrose intolerant patients.

Small intestinal biopsies from nine patients with sucrase-isomaltase deficiency (sucrose-intolerance) were analyzed. All patients lacked sucrase activity and three patients had a residual isomaltase activity and a corresponding isomaltase precipitate following immunoelectrophoresis. By polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate followed by immunoblotting the residual isomaltase appeared as a single polypeptide with molecular weight of approximately 145,000. Maltase-glucoamylase in the biopsies was specifically quantitated by crossed immunoelectrophoresis. One of the patients had an almost total deficiency of maltase-glucoamylase in the biopsy, three patients had a normal amount of maltase-glucoamylase, and five patients constituted an intermediary group. These results indicate that some of the sucrase-isomaltase deficient patients also have a more or less pronounced deficiency of maltase-glucoamylase. The patients constitute an even more heterogeneous group than earlier suggested and should be classified by the amount not only of sucrase and isomaltase but also of maltase-glucoamylase.