Effect of dietary sub-lethal doses of lima bean lectin on relative organ weights, pancreatic and intestinal trypsin (EC 3.4.21.4) and chymotrypsin (EC 3.4.21.1) in the rat.

The dietary implications of feeding sub-lethal doses of extracted and purified lectin from lima bean were assessed in weanling rats using changes in relative organ weights, pancreatic and intestinal trypsin and chymotrypsin activities as the response indices. Liver weights decreased significantly (p less than 0.05) while the heart showed a slight but non-significant increase in response to dietary lectin levels. The kidneys, pancreas and spleen were not significantly affected by dietary lectin. Although the activities of the pancreatic enzymes tended, for the most part, to decrease with increasing dietary lectin, such decreases were not significant when compared with the control. Intestinal trypsin and chymotrypsin activities were significantly (p less than 0.05) decreased in the small intestine while the activity values in both the large intestine and caecum were relatively unaffected. Activities of both enzymes showed significant (p less than 0.05) negative quadratic relationship with dietary lectin levels in the small intestine as judged by the magnitude of the R2, coefficients of multiple determination, of 0.77 and 0.76 for trypsin and chymotrypsin respectively.