Effects of oral and parenteral corticosteroids on intestinal villous morphology and brush border enzymes in the rat.

The effects of corticosteroid have been studied in rats submitted to oral administration of prednisone (5 mg. per kg. per day) during 8, 15, 30, and 90 days. The results were compared to those obtained after parenteral administration of hydrocortisone acetate (50 mg. per kg. per day intramuscularly). The morphometric changes of the villus-crypt axis and the brush border enzymic content of the mucosa (sucrase, enterokinase, alkaline phosphatase, and aminopeptidase) were the parameters investigated at the duodenal, jejunal, and ileal levels. Oral administration of prednisone resulted in a significant increase of the duodenal villous height at the 15th (+ 13 per cent, p less than 0.01), 30th (+ 33 per cent, p less than 0.001), and 90th day (+ 56 per cent, p less than 0.001), whereas in the jejunum a constant decrease of the villous height was noted. Parenteral hydrocortisone administration did not affect intestinal morphology. Effects of oral corticosteroids on the microvillous enzymic activities were related to both intestinal level and duration of corticoids administration: (1) in the duodenum increase of sucrase, alkaline phosphatase, and aminopeptidase during 30 days followed by normalization at the 90th day, (2) an initial increase of sucrase, alkaline phosphatase, and aminopeptidase limited to the first 8 days in the jejunum, and (3) a significant rise of alkaline phosphatase (greater than 100 per cent, p less than 0.001) and enterokinase (greater than 100 per cent, p less than 0.001) in the ileum at the 15th day of treatment. Parenteral corticosteroid administration was associated with a significant increase of both sucrase and enterokinase activities. The present study suggests that: (1) Corticosteroids exert a direct effect on the intestinal morphology varying with the intestinal level and duration of treatment. (2) No correlation could be established between anatomic and functional changes. (3) Oral corticosteroids exert an enhancing effect of the brush border enzymic activities, even in the adult mucosa and particularly at the ileal level where they stimulate significantly the enterokinase mucosal activity. (4) Parenteral corticosteroids exert a more specific effect limited to sucrase and enterokinase enhancement.