Effect of aminoethyl-isothiuronium (AET) treatment on intestinal cell proliferation during ageing.

To establish whether aminoethyl-isothiuronium X bromide X hydrobromide (AET) treatment influenced intestinal cell proliferation during ageing, juvenile and aged female rats were treated with AET for a period of 20 days. Subsequent incorporation of 3H-thymidine was studied in the epithelial cells of the duodenal and jejunal crypts. It was found that after AET administration the major changes occurred in the duodenum, i.e. the number of the villous epithelial columnar cells were found to be elevated during senescence with a markedly higher level of mitotic numbers in the crypts. Changes were less in the ageing jejunum, here neither the cells nor the number of mitoses were as altered as those of the duodenal region. In general, the labelling indices of crypt cells increased in young ages after AET treatment. The findings can be explained by the role of AET with respect to nuclear metabolism.