Dietary zinc and metallothionein on small intestinal disaccharidases activity in mice

Table 1 Villus height (μm) in MT+/+ and MT-/- mice fed the 2, 15 or 50 mg/kg Zn diet for 5 wk

Intestinal segments	Dietary Zn intake (mg/kg)	Genotype
		MT+/+	MT-/-
Duodenum	2	0.47 ± 0.03	0.37 ± 0.05
	15	0.42 ± 0.03	0.42 ± 0.03
	50	0.50 ± 0.03a	0.34 ± 0.03
Jejunum	2	0.42 ± 0.03	0.45 ± 0.03
	15	0.44 ± 0.03a	0.34 ± 0.04
	50	0.48 ± 0.03a	0.38 ± 0.04
Ileum	2	0.21 ± 0.01	0.22 ± 0.02
	15	0.20 ± 0.01	0.24 ± 0.02
	50	0.22 ± 0.04	0.21 ± 0.02

^aP < 0.05 vs MT-/- mice. Data are expressed as mean ± SE of the mean (n = 8/diet/genotype). MT: Metallothionein.

Table 2 Crypt depth (μm) in MT+/+ and MT-/- mice fed the 2, 15 or 50mg/kg Zn diet for 5 wk

Intestinal segments	Dietary Zn intake (mg/kg)	Genotype
		MT+/+	MT-/-
Duodenum	2	0.099 ± 0.006a	0.069 ± 0.004
	15	0.182 ± 0.014a	0.069 ± 0.005
	50	0.104 ± 0.004a	0.085 ± 0.009
Jejunum	2	0.086 ± 0.004	0.080 ± 0.003
	15	0.084 ± 0.003a	0.066 ± 0.004
	50	0.093 ± 0.003a	0.077 ± 0.003
Ileum	2	0.091 ± 0.004a	0.077 ± 0.005
	15	0.087 ± 0.006	0.075 ± 0.004
	50	0.085 ± 0.004	0.075 ± 0.004

^aP < 0.05 vs MT-/- mice. Data are expressed as mean ± SE of the mean (n = 8/diet/genotype). MT: Metallothionein.