Effect of mouse epidermal growth factor/urogastrone on the functional maturation of rat intestine.

Mouse epidermal growth factor/urogastrone (EGF/UG), administered sc in a dose of 0.1 microgram/g BW twice daily for 3 days, increased intestinal weight per unit length, lactase specific activity, and net calcium transport in normal 2-week-old suckling rats, but had no effect on maltase or sucrase specific activity. In normal 3-week-old weanling rats, the intestinal function of which is essentially fully mature, EGF/UG had no effect. These results suggest that EGF/UG, either secreted endogenously or ingested in breast milk, may have a role in both the morphological and functional maturation of the suckling rat intestine.