INTESTINAL-ABSORPTION OF LYSOZYME MOLECULES AND THEIR DESTINATION, ANIMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY ON RAT

Egg white lysozyme is now used clinically for the therapy of inflammat ory diseases of respiratory tracts by oral administration. No definite evidence, however, has been presented to show directly the intestinal absorption of lysozyme molecules keeping the enzymatic activity in si tu. We therefore tried to immunohistochemically detect egg white lysoz yme on the tissues of the intestines and other organs of rats taken ou t at varied time intervals after the oral administration of the lysozy me. Observations of these rat tissues revealed the egg white lysozyme on the surface of intestinal epithelial cells and in the core tissues of villi, liver parenchymal cells and renal tubular cells showing the specific reaction to the antibody. The findings indicate that egg whit e lysozyme molecules can be absorbed through the healthy intestinal mu cosa of rat keeping the antigenic specificity without being decomposed into amino acids.