caa a22 4500 388061960 CHVBK 20180307125123.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199810 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0007114500070008 doi S0007114500070008 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0007114500070008 Vitamin A deficiency induces morphometric changes and decreased functionality in chicken small intestine [Elektronische Daten] The effect of vitamin A on chicken intestinal mucosal morphology and functionality was tested in relation to severe and mild vitamin A deficiency and vitamin A repletion. Compared with rats and mice, chickens have a very quick response to a deficient dietary intake. Severe vitamin A deficiency altered the small intestine of chickens at both the biochemical and the morphological levels. It caused the loss of mucosal protein, reduced villus height and crypt depth and diminished activities of disaccharidases, transpeptidase and alkaline phosphate (EC 3.1.3.1). The ratios RNA-.DNA, RNA:protein and protein:DNA, and the DNA concentrations in 1 g intestinal tissue, together with morphological measurements, provided knowledge about the pattern of lesion. The results indicated that (1) lack of vitamin A influenced cellular hyperplasia as it caused an increase in DNA content and in the number of enterocytes per villus; (2) lack of vitamin A influenced cellular hypertrophy as it decreased the protein:DNA ratio. There was no difference in mucosal enzyme activity between the two deficient groups. The repletion group exhibited a remarkable increase in mucosal enzyme activity only 4 d after switching to the control diet. The evidence presented in our paper suggests that the low vitamin A supply interferes with the normal activity of chicken intestinal mucosa as it influences the processes of proliferation and maturation of enterocytes. Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1998 Uni Zehava Department of Animal Science and School of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel Zaiger Gidi Department of Animal Science and School of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel Reifen Ram School of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel British Journal of Nutrition Cambridge University Press 80/4(1998-10), 401-407 0007-1145 80:4<401 1998 80 BJN https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114500070008 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114500070008 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Uni Zehava Department of Animal Science and School of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Zaiger Gidi Department of Animal Science and School of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Reifen Ram School of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- British Journal of Nutrition Cambridge University Press 80/4(1998-10), 401-407 0007-1145 80:4<401 1998 80 BJN CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge