Study of the action of intramuscularly administered erythromycin on the L-threonine transport and the digestive enzymatic activity in rabbit jejunum

Erythromycin has been shown to inhibit the intestinal transport of L-threonine and D-galactose in strips of mucosal jejunum when it was directly added to the incubation medium. Nevertheless, the effect of erythromycin administered therapeutically by intramuscular injection on both the intestinal absorption of nutrients and the intestinal digestive activity, remains unknown. The results obtained show that, firstly, the intestinal absorption of L-threonine is inhibited in animals treated with erythromycin. The kinetic study shows that the effect seems to be mainly due to an alteration of the affinity apparent constant (Kt) of the Na + dependent system of transport located in the mucosal border. However, the Na +-dependent L-threonine transport in BBMV was not altered by the treatment with erythromycin. The (Na +K +) ATPase activity in BLMV from treated jejunum was 40% of the activity in control BLMV. Secondly, the treatment with erythromycin did not modify the digestive enzymatic activity of sucrase and aminopeptidase N.