Studies on the size and shape of rabbit intestinal glucoamylase-maltase complex

Maltase Has Most Versatile α-Hydrolytic Activity Among the Mucosal α-Glucosidases of the Small Intestine

Complete digestion of the glycemic carbohydrates to glucose takes place through the combined action of the 4 mucosal α-glucosidases (maltase-glucoamylase and sucrase-isomaltase) in the small intestine. Maltase digests α-1,2- and α-1,3-disaccharides better than the other α-glucosidases, and has, as well, the capability to effectively hydrolyze α-1,4 and α-1,6 linkages that form the major backbone of a starch molecule. This broad hydrolytic activity on α-linkages makes it an enzyme that has the most versatile α-hydrolytic activity among the 4mucosal α-glucosidases. The slowly digestible properties of the unusual linkages from this research suggest the development of new glycemic oligosaccharides which will be hydrolyzed slowly, compared to α-1,4 linkages, for modulating the postprandial glycemic response. In addition, using mammalian mucosal α-glucosidases is a better fit to characterize carbohydrate digestion properties, compared to fungal amyloglucosidase which is currently applied in in vitro assays.

Partial characterization of murine intestinal maltase-glucoamylase

Using papain digestion together with molecular sieving and ion-exchange HPLC, maltase-glucoamylase (MGA) was purified from small intestinal mucosa of CBA/J mice. The purified enzyme displayed an apparent M.W. of 500-600 kDa by SDS-PAGE analysis and under fully denaturing conditions was found to comprise at least three different glycoproteins with apparent M.W. of 410, 275, and 260 kDa, respectively. Thus, murine MGA displayed structural homology to the enzymes obtained from rat and rabbit intestines and differed substantially from the structures reported for the human, pig, and chicken counterparts. The enzyme showed spontaneous degradation during storage at -20 degrees C with accumulation particularly of the 275 and 260 kDa proteins. In addition, IgG obtained from sera of MGA-deficient CBA/Ca mice previously immunized with murine MGA reacted with the native enzyme, as well as with the 410, 275, and 260 kDa components. These results indicated that the 410 kDa component might constitute a precursor of the components with lower apparent M.W.

Neutral maltase/glucoamylase from rabbit renal cortex

Maltase activity (EC 3.2.1.20) was solubilized from rabbit kidney brush-border membrane by using 1.0% Triton X-100 and purified 230-fold with an overall recovery of 30%. The purification procedure makes use of heat precipitation, chromatography on DE-52 DEAE-cellulose and gel filtration on Sephacryl S-300. Rabbit kidney brush border exhibited glucoamylase activity with a maltase/glucoamylase ratio of 1.5:1 to 2.0:1. During purification the maltase and glucoamylase activities behaved identically. The Mr of the complex is 590,000, and it appears to be composed of eight identical subunits linked by disulphide bridges.