Figure 4. Chitin is degraded in stomach and intestine environment.
(a) Colloidal and crystalline chitin substrates were degraded by the stomach extract containing AMCase during 1–3 hours incubation. (b) and (c) Degradation products were generated during incubation of colloidal (b, left) and crystalline chitin (c, left) with the extract of mouse stomach at pH 2.0 for 1 hour and subsequently at pH 7.6 for 3 hours after addition of equal amount of trypsin and chymotrypsin. Additionally, colloidal (b, right) and crystalline chitin (c, right) were degraded when substrates were reacted at pH 7.6 for 3 hours after addition of equal amount of trypsin and chymotrypsin. All incubations were performed at 37 °C. (d) Summary of the results in this study. Mouse AMCase degrades chitin substrates to (GlcNAc)2 in both gastric and intestinal environments.