Abstracts
1997 Digestive Disease Week

Glucagon-like peptide 2: a potent intestinal growth factor.

DA Litvak, MR Hellmich, BM Evers, NA Banker, T Uchida, CM Townsend Jr. Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX.

Short bowel syndrome that occurs after massive intestinal resection or catastrophic injury continues to be a difficult clinical problem; effective, clinical therapy to enhance gut growth is not available. We have shown that the gut hormone neurotensin (NT) stimulates intestinal growth. The purpose of this study was to compare the proliferative effects of GLP-2 to NT on both the small bowel and colon. METHODS. Balb/c mice (10-wk old) were randomized into three groups (n=6-7/group) to receive either GLP-2 (1.75 mg/kg, bid), NT (600 µg/kg, tid), or saline (control) subcutaneously for 10 days. Mice were killed and jejunum, ileum, and colon were removed, weighed and measured for DNA and protein content. (Data expressed as mean ± SEM; * =p<0.05 vs. control, † =p<0.05 vs. NT). RESULTS. Treatment with GLP-2 significantly increased weight of jejunum, ileum and colon compared to both control and NT (Fig. 1). DNA content, a marker of cellular hyperplasia, was significantly increased in the small bowel and colon by treatment with GLP-2 and NT compared to control tissues (Fig. 2). Small intestinal protein content, an indicator of cellular hypertrophy, was significantly increased by GLP-2 compared to both NT and control; protein content of the colon was greater in each of the treatment groups compared with control (Fig. 3). [Figures not available.]

CONCLUSIONS. GLP-2 is a potent trophic factor of normal small intestine with proliferative effects that are equal to or greater than that of NT. In addition, we have demonstrated, for the first time, that GLP-2 stimulates colonic growth. Administration of GLP-2 may be useful clinically to enhance small intestinal regeneration and adaptation during periods of disease and in the early phases of the short bowel syndrome.