We measured the activities of eight digestive enzymes in four species of herbivorous and carnivorous prickleback fishes and determined the effects of ontogeny, diet, and phylogeny on these enzyme activities. Of the four species, Cebidichthys violaceus and Xiphister mucosus shift to a more herbivorous diet as they grow (> or =45 mm SL [standard length]), whereas Xiphister atropurpureus and Anopl...

BACKGROUND Due to the high proline content of gluten molecules, gastrointestinal proteases are unable to fully degrade them leaving large proline-rich gluten fragments intact, including an immunogenic 33-mer from α-gliadin and a 26-mer from γ-gliadin. These latter peptides can trigger pro-inflammatory T cell responses resulting in tissue remodeling, malnutrition and a variety of other complicat...

OBJECTIVE There is growing evidence for a gut-brain connection associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This suggests a potential benefit from introduced digestive enzymes for children with ASD. METHODS We performed a double-blind, randomized clinical trial on 101 children with ASD (82 boys and 19 girls) aged from 3 to 9 years. ASD patients were diagnosed according to the Diagnostic ...

Organisms need to assess their nutritional state and adapt their digestive capacity to the demands for various nutrients. Modulation of digestive enzyme production represents a rational step to regulate nutriment uptake. However, the role of digestion in nutrient homeostasis has been largely neglected. In this study, we analyzed the mechanism underlying glucose repression of digestive enzymes i...

The basic claims of this application involve methods that use a polymer to deliver therapeutic molecules in a targeted fashion using a polymeric carrier, drug and a biologically degradable linker. The release of therapeutic molecule is in response to digestive enzymes that are overexpressed in diseased tissues in the body. Further claims, of the sixteen included, define the digestive enzymes an...

Three hundred one-day-old male broiler chickens (Ross-308) were fed corn-soybean basal diets containing non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) enzyme and different levels of acid protease from 1 to 42 days of age to investigate the effects of exogenous enzymes on growth performance, digestive function, activity of endogenous digestive enzymes in the pancreas and mRNA expression of pancreatic digestive...