[Regulatory properties of the intestinal enzymes of higher and lower animals as an adaptation mechanism in digestion and absorption].

It is shown that certain key enzymes in membranous digestion (alkaline phosphatase, peptidase, gamma-amylase) are allosteric and ensure the autoregulation and the homoeostasis of the final stages of hydrolysis and of the initial stages of nutrient transport. This mechanism was evidenced not only in vertebrates (mammals, birds, fishes), but also in invertebrates (drosophilae). The comparison of the triton and trypsin forms of the enzymes permitted to locate centres of regulation in the hydrophobic parts of amphipathetic enzymes (as illustrated by the examples of alkaline phosphatase and gamma-amylase of of the rat and of the drosophila). A considerable variability of the regulatory characteristics of the enzymes under investigation was demonstrated in the different varieties of drosophila. The authors present a hypothesis on the role of the regulatory properties of digestive enzymes in the physiology and the pathology of the digestive and transport systems of the small intestine.