Knowledge of specific enzyme activity, along with animal habits and digestive capacity is essential in formulating an appropriate diet for any species. In this study, we evaluated and characterized the activity of digestive enzymes present in the liver, intestine, and stomach of Paralichthys orbignyanus. The effects of pH and temperature on enzyme activity were also evaluated via the use of spe...

The exocrine pancreas and certain salivary glands of mammals secrete a variety of enzymes into the gastrointestinal tract, where they digest food. The same glands also release these enzymes into the bloodstream. This latter process has commonly been assumed to occur solely as the result of a pathological condition or as an inadvertent by-product of exocrine secretion due to the leakage of trace...

Activities of twelve hydrolytic enzymes in the digestive tract of young rabbits before weaning (4 weeks old) and adult rabbits (3 months old) were measured. The principal digestive enzymes in both groups of rabbits appeared to be amylase (EC 3.2.1.1), maltase (EC 3.2.1.20), pectinase (EC 3.2.1.15) and proteinases. The stomach of young rabbits contained most of the lipolytic activity and 45.7% o...

Cathepsins are lysosomal peptidases belonging to the papain family, and based on their catalytic sites, these enzymes can be divided into serine, cysteine and aspartic proteases. The studies conducted to date have identified, 15 types of cathepsins that are widely distributed in intracellular and extracellular spaces. These proteases participate in various pathological activities, including the...

Insect-resistant transgenic plants have been suggested to have deleterious effects on beneficial predators through transmission of the transgene product by the pest to the predator. To test this hypothesis, effects of oilseed rape expressing the cysteine protease inhibitor oryzacystatin-1 (OC-1) on the predatory ladybird Harmonia axyridis were investigated using diamondback moth Plutella xylost...

Lactation is the most energetically demanding period in the life cycle of female mammals, and its effects on digestive flexibility and the size of internal organs have been extensively studied in laboratory mice and rats since the early 1900s. However, there have been only two studies on this topic for wild rodent species. Here, we analyzed digestive flexibility--that is, changes in gut content...