Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T20:55:59.128Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Food viscosity as determinant for adaptive growth responses in rat intestine: long-term feeding of different hydroxyethyl celluloses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Bernd Elsenhans*
Affiliation:
Walther Straub-Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Nussbaumstrasse 26, D-80336 München, Germany
Wolfgang F. Caspary
Affiliation:
Abteilung Gastroenterologie, Zentrum Innere Medizin, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, D-60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
*
*Corresponding author: Professor Bernd Elsenhans, fax +49 89 5160 7207, email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Carbohydrate gelling agents can be regarded as being representative for the soluble and viscous fractions of dietary fibre. Their dietary concentration affects the consistency of the ingested food as well as the dilution of nutrients and energy. By feeding hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) differing in molecular mass, and thus in its viscosity properties, only the consistency of the diet was modified. Three HEC (of low (LV), medium (MV) and high viscosity (HV)) were employed in a 6-week feeding study with female rats to evaluate the effect of the viscosity on adaptive responses of intestinal growth variables. Each of the HEC was added in three increasing concentrations (8, 16, and 32 %, w/w) to a fibre-free control diet to yield nine test groups besides a fibre-free and an additional, fibre-rich, cereal-based control group. Except for the highest concentration of the high viscosity product (32 % HV-HEC), the dilution of the energy density of the diet was almost completely compensated by an increased food intake. With the same exception, energy utilisation was not impaired and, therefore, body-weight gains in the test groups were not significantly different from that in the control. Most other changes, e.g. increases in small intestinal length, mucosal DNA content, caecal and colonic weight, not only depended on the dietary concentration but also on the viscosity of HEC in a manner that either increasing the viscosity at a given dietary concentration or increasing the dietary concentration at a given viscosity led to the same results. These findings clearly prove the important role of the viscosity of the lumen content, as a mere physico-chemical factor, in determining adaptative growth responses in the intestinal tract of rats.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2000

References

Atkinson, RL, Whipple, JH, Atkinson, SH and Stewart, CC (1982) Role of small bowel in regulating food intake in rats. American Journal of Physiology 242, R429R433.Google ScholarPubMed
Braun, WH, Ramsey, JC and Gehring, PJ (1974) The lack of significant absorption of methylcellulose, viscosity 3300 cP, from the gastrointestinal tract following single and multiple oral doses to the rat. Food and Cosmetics Toxicology 12, 373376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, RC, Kelleher, J and Losowsky, MS (1979) The effect of pectin on the structure and function of rat small intestine. British Journal of Nutrition 42, 357365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brunsgaard, G, Eggum, BO and Sandström, B (1995) Gastrointestinal growth in rats as influenced by indigestible polysaccharides and adaptation period. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 111A, 369377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burton, KA (1956) Study of the conditions and mechanism of the diphenylamine reaction for the colorimetric estimation of deoxyribonucleic acid. Biochemical Journal 62, 315323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calvert, R, Schneeman, BO, Satchithanandam, S, Cassidy, MM and Vahouny, GV (1985) Dietary fiber and intestinal adaptation: effects on intestinal and pancreatic digestive enzyme activities. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 41, 12491256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cameron-Smith, D, Collier, GR and O'Dea, K (1994) Effect of soluble dietary fibre on the viscosity of gastrointestinal contents and the acute glycaemic response in the rat. British Journal of Nutrition 71, 563571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Creutzfeldt, W, Fölsch UR, Elsenhans, B, Ballemann, M and Conlon, JM (1985) Adaptation of the small intestine to induced maldigestion in rats. Experimental pancreatic atrophy and accarbose feeding. Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology 20, 4553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croft, DN and Lubran, M (1965) The estimation of deoxyribonucleic acid in the presence of sialic acid: application to analysis of human gastric washings. Biochemical Journal 95, 612620.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, JH (1982) Consequences of the metabolism of fiber in the human large intestine. In Dietary Fiber in Health and Disease, pp. 922 [Vahouny, VG & Kritchevsky, D, editors]. New York, NY: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowling, RH, Riecken, EO, Laws, JW and Booth, CC (1967) The intestinal response to high bulk feeding in the rat. Clinical Science 32, 19.Google ScholarPubMed
Dunaif, G and Schneeman, BO (1981) The effect of dietary fiber on human pancreatic enzyme activity in vitro. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 34, 10341035.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ecknauer, R, Sircar, B and Johnson, LR (1981) Effect of dietary bulk on small intestinal morphology and cell renewal in the rat. Gastroenterology 81, 781786.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edwards, CA, Blackburn, NA, Craigen, L, Davison, P, Tomlin, J, Sugden, K, Johnson, IT and Read, NW (1987) Viscosity of food gums determined in vitro related to their hypoglycemic actions. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, 7277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elsenhans, B, Blume, R and Caspary, WF (1981) Long-term feeding of unavailable carbohydrate gelling agents. Influence of dietary concentration and microbiological degradation on adaptive responses in the rat. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 34, 18371848.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elsenhans, B and Caspary, WF (1989) Differential changes in the urinary excretion of two orally administered polyethylene glycol markers (PEG 900 and PEG 4000) in rats after feeding various carbohydrate gelling agents. Journal of Nutrition 119, 380387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epstein, AN and Teitelbaum, P (1962) Regulation of food intake in the absence of taste, smell and other oropharyngeal sensations. Journal of Comparative Physiology and Psychology 55, 753759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farness, PL and Schneeman, BO (1982) Effects of dietary cellulose, pectin and oat bran on the small intestine in the rat. Journal of Nutrition 112, 13151319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fischer, JE (1957) Effects of feeding diets containing lactose, agar, cellulose, raw potato starch or arabinose on the dry weight of cleaned gastrointestinal tract organs in the rat. American Journal of Physiology 188, 550554.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fölsch, UR, Grieb, N, Caspary, WF and Creutzfeldt, W (1981) Influence of short- and long-term feeding of an α-amylase inhibitor (Bay e4609) on the exocrine pancreas of the rat. Digestion 21, 7482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fölsch, UR, Van Schwamen, E, Graf, S, Caspary, WF and Creutzfeldt, W (1978) Einfluβ einer Langzeitfütterung eines Glykosidhydrolaseinhibitors auf die Pankreasenzymsekretion und Dünndarmbürstensaumenzyme der Ratte (Influence of long-term feeding of a glycoside-hydrolase inhibitor on pancreatic enzyme secretion and small-intestinal brush border enzymes in the rat). Ergebnisse in der Gastroenterologie 14, 78.Google Scholar
Gee, JM, Lee-Finglas, W, Wortley, GW and Johnson, IT (1996) Fermentable carbohydrates elevate plasma enteroglucagon but high viscosity is also necessary to stimulate small bowel mucosal cell proliferation in rats. Journal of Nutrition 126, 373379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gustafsson, BE, Midvedt, T and Strandberg, K (1970) Effects of microbial contamination on the cecum enlargement of germfree rats. Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology 5, 309314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hiller, HH and Nebendahl, K (1977) Möglichkeiten zur Einstellung des Energiegehaltes in Futtermischungen für Ratten unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Hostalenpulver als Füllstoff (Adjustment of the energy content of food mixtures for rats with special regard to Hostalen powder as filler). Zeitschrift für Versuchstierkunde 19, 222228.Google Scholar
Isaksson, G, Lundquist, I and Ihse, I (1982) Effect of dietary fiber on pancreatic enzyme activity in vitro. The importance of viscosity, pH, ionic strength, adsorption and time of incubation. Gastroenterology 82, 918924.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, IT (1986) Effects of hydrophilic fiber sources in dry rat diets (letter to the editor). Journal of Nutrition 117, 403404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, IT and Gee, JM (1986) Gastrointestinal adaptation in response to soluble non-available polysaccharides in the rat. British Journal of Nutrition 55, 497505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, IT, Gee, JM and Mahoney, RR (1984) Effect of dietary supplements of guar gum and cellulose on intestinal cell proliferation, enzyme levels and sugar transport in the rat. British Journal of Nutrition 52, 477487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koopmans, HS (1990) The role of the ileum in the control of food intake and intestinal adaptation. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 68, 650655.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koopmans, HS and Maggio, CA (1978) The effects of specified chemical meals on food intake. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 31, S267S272.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larsen, FM, Wilson, MN and Moughan, PJ (1994) Dietary fiber viscosity and amino acid digestibility, proteolytic digestive enzyme activity and digestive organ weights in growing rats. Journal of Nutrition 124, 833841.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lowry, DH, Rosebrough, NL, Farr, A and Randall, RJ (1951) Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent. Journal of Biological Chemistry 193, 265275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mallett, AK, Wise, A and Rowland, IR (1983) Effect of dietary cellulose on the metabolic activity of the rat ceacal microflora. Archives of Toxicology 52, 311317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sachs, L (1984) Angewandte Statistik (Applied Statistics), 6th ed. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneeman, BO (1994) Carbohydrates: significance for energy balance and gastrointestinal function. Journal of Nutrition 124, 1747S1753S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Southgate, DAT (1978) Dietary fibre. Chemical aspects. Topics in Gastroenterology 6, 1338.Google Scholar
Spiller, RC (1994) Pharmacology of dietary fibre. Pharmacology and Therapeutics 62, 407427.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stark, A, Nyska, A, Zuckerman, A and Madar, Z (1995) Changes in intestinal tunica muscularis following dietary fiber feeding in rats. A morphometric study using image analysis. Digestive Diseases and Sciences 40, 960966.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Struthers, BJ (1986) Warning: feeding animals hydrophilic fiber sources in dry diets. Journal of Nutrition 116, 4749.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Struthers, BJ (1986) Reply to the letter of Dr. Johnson. Journal of Nutrition 117, 405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whiteley, LO, Higgins, JM, Purdon, MP, Ridder, GM and Bertram, TA (1996) Evaluation in rats of the dose–response relationship among colonic mucosal growth, colonic fermentation, and dietary fiber. Digestive Diseases and Sciences 41, 14581467.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Younoszai, MK, Adedoyin, M and Ranshaw, J (1978) Dietary components and gastrointestinal growth in rats. Journal of Nutrition 108, 341350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed