Hydrolytic activities of small intestine content as determined by radial enzyme diffusion in Eurytrema sp infected or non infected cattleHidrolitic activities of small intestine content as determined by radial enzyme diffusion in agar gel containing calcium caseinate, corn oil, starch or skimmed milk were measured in 38 mature cattle from slaughterhouse. Each one were identified as normal or infected and then classified into two different grades according to pancreatic ducts lesions and parasite burden. The substrates calcium caseinate and corn oil did not shown cleared zones in several radial enzyme diffusion tests or it was difficult to get a correct measure of the diameters. Such problems, however, were not observed with starch and skimmed milk. In these cases, hidrolitic activities were similar in both control and Eurytrema sp infected groups, despite of the pancreatic duct lesions and parasite load (P>0.05). So, it was concluded that the radial enzyme diffusion method couldn’t shown any exocrine pancreatic disfunction in Eurytrema sp infected cattle.
pancreatic function; fecal hydrolases; cattle
