LES PEROXYSOMES DANS LEUR ENVIRONNEMENTCELLULAIRE LORS DE L'ONTOGENÈSE INTESTINALE DUPOULET : ÉTUDE CYTOCHIMIQUE ET BIOCHIMIQUE

Peroxisomes are studied in the developing chick intestine by electron microscopy and activities of peroxisomal enzymes are measured. Epithelial cell differentiation is accompanied by an increase in frequency of peroxisomes and mitochondria. Simultaneously, these organelles intracellular localization varies : they are revealed in the basal domain of epithelial cells in the earliest stages and in the apical part of differentiated cells at the end of development. The mean size of peroxisomes and mitochondria does not significantly changes throughout the intestinal ontogeny. Catalase and peroxisomal P-oxidation system are expressed in intestinal endodermal cells as soon as day five in ovo. D-proline oxidase is not found in intestinal homogenate before seventeenth day. Catalase, bifunctional enzyme and D-proline oxidase activities increase with the age of the tissue