Improved sensitivity of the BTPABA pancreatic function test in animals with meals of raw egg white.

An indirect exocrine pancreatic function test (PFT) which measures the ability of a test to hydrolyze a chymotrypsin-labile peptide (N-benzoyl-L-tyrosyl-PABA), was carried out in rats and swine with simulated partial exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. When spray-dried egg white (SDEW), which contains an inhibitor of chymotrypsin, was administered as a test meal with the PFT, the degree of pancreatic insufficiency was more pronounced. The results suggest that SDEW or raw egg while may be useful as a test meal to be given in conjunction with the PFT in humans in order to accentuate moderate degrees of pancreatic insufficiency and improve the sensitivity of this indirect test of pancreatic function.