Evidence that L-sucrose is resistant to hydrolysis catalyzed by jejunal brush border enzymes.

The sucrase-isomaltase complex of the intestinal brush border membrane (BBM) catalyzes the hydrolysis of sucrose. The stereospecificity of this enzyme, however, is not known. To investigate this, BBM of hamster jejunum was incubated with D-sucrose or L-sucrose, and the reaction mixture was analyzed using a gas-liquid chromatograph. It was found that D-sucrose was hydrolyzed to its monomers, but L-sucrose remained unhydrolyzed. It is concluded that the sucrase-isomaltase of intestinal BBM of hamster jejunum does not hydrolyze L-sucrose and therefore this enzyme is stereospecific.