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Diurnal changes in large-bowel metabolism: short-chain fatty acids and transit time in rats fed on wheat bran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

J. C. Mathers  and
J.-M. Fotso Tagny
J. C. Mathers
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Nutritional Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NEI 7RU
J.-M. Fotso Tagny
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Nutritional Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NEI 7RU
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Abstract

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To investigate diurnal changes in large-bowel metabolism rats were fed once daily on a cooked maize-based diet without or with 200 g wLeat bran/kg diet and containing Cr2O3 as an indigestible marker. After 17 d four rats on each diet were killed at 4, 10, 16 and 22 h postfeeding. Emptying of dry matter (DM) from the stomach occurred by an apparently zero-order process at about 0·5 g/h in both diet groups. Feeding wheat bran had little effect on caecal pH or total short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentration but was associated with a marked increase in molar proportion of butyrate and a fall in propionate. There were substantial changes in caecal total SCFA concentration and in the molar proportions of individual SCFA throughout the day but no evidence of an interaction between diet and time interval after feeding. Caecal transit time (TT) was significantly reduced by feeding wheat bran whilst colonic TT was unaffected. Although when averaged across both diets there were no significant time effects on caecal or colonic TT, there was a significant diet × time interaction for caecal TT. The extent of coprophagy was measured. The proportion of stomach DM derived from ingested faeces increased with time interval after feeding but it was always a minor contribution so that in these circumstances coprophagy is unlikely to result in significant bias in estimates of digesta flow-rates or TT.

Keywords

Large-bowel fermentationTransit timeWheat branShort-chain fatty acids
Type
Diurnal effects on transit and fatty acids in the large bowel
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 71 , Issue 2 , February 1994 , pp. 209 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1994

References

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