The enzymes and transporters housed within the outer membrane of cells lining the inside of the small intestine are responsible for the final break down and absorption of a meal's nutrients. Fortunately these cells can increase their digestive and absorptive performance when faced with a larger meal or when segments of the small intestine are lost to surgery or disease. Although the capacity to increase digestive performance is important for health and nutrition, the means by which the intestine can do this is currently unknown. Whereas previous research has used traditional laboratory mammals (mice, rats, and rabbits) to study intestinal function, this project takes a different approach and uses the Burmese python to investigate the mechanisms by which the intestine can alter performance. The advantage of the python is that they increase intestinal function by 20-fold with each meal, far above the more modest 2-fold increases that mammals can exhibit. Pythons also possess the extraordinary ability to rapidly increase intestinal surface area by lengthening their intestinal microvilli (small finger-like projections that extend from intestinal cells). Therefore, identifying the steps involved in improving intestinal function will be more easily accomplished from studies of the python intestine rather than from studying mammal intestine. This project employs tissue, cellular, and molecular techniques to elucidate the relationship between intestinal surface area and intestinal function, and the means by which that surface area can be expanded to increase function. The research and student training will take an integrative multi-level approach. Graduate and post-doctoral training will occur during this work, but a strong focus will be placed on the inclusion of undergraduate student researchers in all aspects of this work.
