Localization and activities of lysosomal enzymes in jejunal and ileal epithelial cells of the young pig.

The localization and the specific activities of lysosomal enzymes in jejunal and ileal epithelium of suckling pigs were determined. Acid phosphatase was found in pinocytotic vesicles and vacoles at both intestinal sites in pigs examined during (less than or equal to 1 day old) or shortly after (2 days old) closure. These pinocytolically active vesicles and vacuoles were determined to be phagolysosomes. In the ileum, phagolysosomes persisted well after closure, at an age (10 days) when ileal epithelium retains the capacity for pinocytotic uptake of immunoglobulin, but does not transport it to blood. Neither jejunum nor ileum contained phagolysosomes at an age (30 days) when the intestine had lost both uptake and transport capacities. The specific activities of acid phosphatase and cathepsin B-1 in jejunum were similar for all age groups. However, the activities of these enzymes in ileum of 10-day-old pigs were three and five times greater than at any other age or site. The results are consistent with phagolysosomes in the ileum of 10-day-old pigs functioning as a "barrier" which prevents transport of the macromolecules which are taken up pinocytotically by this epithelium. The results do not permit conclusions whether (or not) the phagolysosomes which appear in jejunum and ileum of pigs less than or equal to 1 day old contribute to closure, because the transcellular route for immunoglobulin absorption in pigs has not been precisely defined.