Title: Effects of starvation-refeeding on volatile fatty acid distribution in the large bowel of the rat
Abstract: In non-starved female rats fed a standard non-purified diet the mass of digesta and concentrations of volatile fatty acids (VFA) were highest in caecal contents, intermediate in the distal colon and lowest in the proximal colon. Concentrations of the major acids fell with the greatest fall being in butyrate. In starved rats digesta mass fell in both caecum and distal colon while the proximal colon was empty. VFA concentrations also fell with starvation, the smallest reduction being in acetate while propionate and butyrate fell to very low levels, particularly in the distal colon. After 15 h of refeeding, digesta mass remained depressed in the caecum. In the proximal colon digesta was higher than in non-starved rats after 5 h of refeeding but in the distal colon restoration occurred after 10 h. In refed animals caecal concentrations of acetate and propionate returned to non-starved values after 10 h while in the colon restoration was effected only after 15 h. Butyrate concentrations remained depressed by >50% in both the caecum and the distal colon but in proximal contents were 160% of those in non-fasted rats. The data show that in non-starved animals, there are substantial regional differences in large bowel VFA concentrations between rats and other omnivores eg man and pig. In the rat these regional differences may be affected by starvation and refeeding and this should be considered when designing experiments in vivo and in vitro to investigate large bowel metabolism.
Publication Year: 1990
Publication Date: 1990-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 10
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