Inhibition of protein synthesis and intestinal absorptive cell ultrastructure in cycloheximide or puromycin-treated rats.

Inhibitors of protein synthesis are useful for the investigation of some aspects of intestinal fatty acid absorption. The aim of the present study was to investigate both the biochemical and morphological effects of two inhibitors of protein synthesis on the intestinal mucosa of adult rats. Our results showed that 4 or 4 1/2 h after a single dose of cycloheximide or multiple doses of puromycin, the inhibition of protein synthesis in the jejunal mucosa, measured by the incorporation of 14C-leucine, stabilized at 60% of the controls. At the same time, these two drugs had different effects on absorptive cell morphology: cycloheximide definitely altered the apical surface of these cells, disorganizing their cytoplasm; puromycin did not modify brush border morphology but remodeled the mitochondria and the Golgi complexes.