Intestinal Invertase: Precocious Development of Activity after Injection of Hydrocortisone

Abstract

Injection of rats aged 3 to 9 days with hydrocortisone causes precocious development of invertase activity in the small intestine. The enzyme becomes fully active about 72 hours after injection of hydrocortisone. Invertase activity is also detectable when hydrocortisone is added to organ culture of intestine derived from 5-to 6-day old rats. Hydrocortisone does not appear to affect the activity of lactase, suggesting that it does not act solely by hastening the normal maturation process.