Developmental changes in intestinal glycosylation: nutrition-dependent multi-factor regulation of the fucosylation pathway at weaning time.

Developmental changes in the fucoglycoproteins of the intestinal brush-border membranes were determined by lectin affinoblotting after electrophoresis. Whereas only two alpha(1-6)-fucoglycoproteins were detected in brush-border membranes from suckling rats, a large number of N-fucoglycoproteins with alpha(1-2)- and/or alpha(1-6)-linked fucose residues were detected in rat membranes after weaning. Dietary manipulations at weaning time were used to investigate the effect of nutritional factors in the development of fucosylation in the small intestine of prolonged-nursed rats fed with milk (a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet) compared to rats weaned normally with a standard high-carbohydrate diet. The fucose content of the mucosa glycoproteins was lower in 22-day-old prolonged-nursed rats than in 22-day-old rats weaned normally with the standard diet. The appearance of fucoglycoproteins in the brush-border membranes, which was delayed by prolonged nursing, was accompanied by a concomitant delay in the increase of intestinal fucosyl-transferase activity and in the decrease of GDP-fucose substrate breakdown. The developmental decrease in the activity of the inhibitory protein which regulates the fucosyl-transferase activity was also delayed by prolonged nursing. The intestinal fucosylation of brush-border membrane glycoproteins (which include many digestive enzymes) displayed ontogenic changes on which were superimposed dietary influences at the time of weaning. The complete maturation of the brush-border membrane glycoproteins, and particularly their terminal fucosylation, is a developmental event which thus seems to be strongly influenced by the manipulation of nutritional factors during the weaning period.