Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T13:20:00.547Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New insight into butyrate metabolism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2007

Knud Erik Bach Knudsen ,
Anja Serena ,
Nuria Canibe  and
Katri S. Juntunen
Knud Erik Bach Knudsen*
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, P.O. Box 50, DK-8830, Tjele, Denmark
Anja Serena
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, P.O. Box 50, DK-8830, Tjele, Denmark
Nuria Canibe
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, P.O. Box 50, DK-8830, Tjele, Denmark
Katri S. Juntunen
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, P.O. Box 50, DK-8830, Tjele, Denmark University of Kuopio, Department of Clinical Nutrition, P.O. Box 1627, FIN-70211, Kuopio, Finland
*
*Corresponding author: Professor Knud Erik Bach Knudsen, fax +45 89 99 13 78, [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.

Butyrate is a C4 acid produced by microbial fermentation of carbohydrates and protein in the large intestine of all animal species. The factor of prime importance for the production rate of butyrate in the lower gut is type and levels of non-digestible carbohydrates entering the large intestine. It was previously believed that 85–90% of the butyrate produced in the gut was cleared when passing the gut epithelium, but recent studies with catheterised pigs have shown that the concentration of butyrate in the portal vein is strongly influenced by the production rate in the large intestine. Increased gut production of butyrate further raises the circulating level of butyrate. For good reason it is not possible with current technologies to perform direct measurements of the variation in the butyrate concentration in the portal vein of human subjects, but short-chain fatty acid levels in portal blood from sudden-death victims, subjects undergoing emergency surgery or planned surgery have indicated a higher gut production and absolute and relative concentration of butyrate in non-fasted as compared with fasted human subjects. However, despite an expected higher gut production of butyrate when feeding a high-fibre rye-bread-based diet as compared with a low-fibre wheat-bread-based diet, there was no difference in absolute or relative levels of butyrate in the peripheral blood of human subjects.

Keywords

ButyrateCatheterised pigsMetabolism
Type
Session: Short-chain fatty acids
Information
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , February 2003 , pp. 81 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2003

References

Argenzio, RA & Southworth, M (1975) Sites of organic acid production and absorption in the gastrointestinal tract of the pig. American Journal of Physiology 228, 454–464.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bach Knudsen, KE, Canibe, N & Jørgensen, H (2000) Quantification of the absorption of nutrients deriving from carbohydrate assimilation: Model experiment with catheterised pigs fed on wheat and oat based rolls. British Journal of Nutrition 84, 449–458.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergman, EN (1990) Energy contributions of volatile fatty acids from the gastrointestinal tract in various species. Physiological Reviews 70, 567–590.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergman, EN & Wolff, JE (1971) Metabolism of volatile fatty acids by liver and portal-drained viscera in sheep. American Journal of Physiology 221, 586–592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bourquin, LD, Titgemeyer, EC, Fahey, GC Bourquin, LD, Titgemeyer, EC, Fahey, GC Jr & Garleb, KA (1993) Fermentation of dietary fibre by human colonic bacteria: disappearance of short-chain fatty acid production from, and potential water-holding capacity of, various substrates. Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology 28, 249–255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breves, G & Stuck, K (1995) Short-chain fatty acids in the hindgut. In Physiological and Clinical Aspects of Short-Chain Fatty Acids, pp.73 – 85 [ Cummings, JH, Rombeau, JL and Sakata, T, Editors] Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Casterline, JL, Oles, CJ & Ku, Y (1997) In vitro fermentation of various food fiber fractions. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry 45, 2463–2467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, DN, Bach Knudsen, KE, Wolstrup, J & Jensen, BB (1999) Integration of ileum cannulated pigs and in vitro fermentation to quantify the effect of diet composition on the amount of short-chain fatty acids available from fermentation in the large intestine. Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture 79, 755–762.3.0.CO;2-2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummings, JH & Englyst, HN (1987) Fermentation in the human large intestine and the available substrates. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 45, 1243–1255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, JH & Englyst, HN (1995) Gastrointestinal effects of food carbohydrate. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61 938S – 945SCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, JH, Gibson, GR & Macfarlane, GT (1989) Quantitative estimates of fermentation in the hind gut of man. In International Symposium on Comparative Aspects of the Physiology of Digestion in Ruminant and Hindgut Fermenters, pp.76 – 82. [ Skadhauge, E and Norgaard, P, Editors ] Copenhagen, Denmark: Acta Veterinaria ScandinavicaGoogle Scholar
Cummings, JH, Pomare, EW, Branch, WJ, Naylor, CPE & Macfarlane, GT (1987) Short-chain fatty acids in human large intestine, portal, hepatic and venous blood. Gut 28, 1221–1227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dankert, J, Zijstra, JB & Wolthers, BG (1981) Volatile fatty acids in human peripheral and portal blood: quantitative determination by vacuum distillation and gas chromatography. Clinica Chimica Acta 110, 301–307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Englyst, HN, Hay, S & Macfarlane, GT (1987) Polysaccharide breakdown by mixed populations of human faecal bacteria. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 95, 163–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giusi-Peerier, A, Fiszlewicz, M & Rerat, A (1989) Influence of diet composition on intestinal volatile fatty acid and nutrient absorption in unanesthetized pigs. Journal of Animal Science 67, 386–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glitsø, LV, Jensen, BB & Bach Knudsen, KE (2000) In vitro fermentation of rye carbohydrates including arabinoxylans of different structure. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 80, 1211–1218.3.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juntunen, KS, Mazur, WM, Liukkonen, KH, Uehara, M, Poutanen, KS, Adlercreutz, HCT & Mykkanen, HM (2000) Consumption of wholemeal rye bread increases serum concentrations and urinary excretion of enterolactone compared with consumption of white wheat bread in healthy Finnish men and women. British Journal of Nutrition 84, 839–846.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, YS, Tsao, D, Siddiqui, B, Whitehead, JS, Arnstein, P, Bennett, J & Hicks, J (1981) Effects of sodium butyrate and dimethyl-sulfoxide on biochemical properties of human colon cancer cells. Cancer 45, 1185–1192.3.0.CO;2-W>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristensen, NB & Danfar, A (2001) The relationship between gastrointestinal production and portal absorption of short-chain fatty acids. In ruminants Energy Metabolism in Animals, pp.277–280 [ Chwalibog, A and Jakobsen, K, Editors ] Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Pers.Google Scholar
Kristensen, NB, Gabel, G, Pierzynowski, SG & Danfar, A (2000) Portal recovery of short-chain fatty acids infused into the temporarily-isolated and washed reticulo-rumen of sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 84, 477–482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McNeil, NI, Cummings, JH & James, WPT (1978) Short chain fatty acid absorption by the human large intestine. Gut 19, 819–822.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, SG, Pomare, EW & Fisher, CA (1992) Portal and peripheral blood short chain fatty acid concentrations after caecal lactulose installation at surgery. Gut 33, 1249–1252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roediger, WEW (1980) The colonic epithelium in ulcerative colitis: an energy-deficiency disease?. Lancet ii, 712–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silvester, KR, Englyst, HN & Cummings, JH (1995) Heal recovery of starch from whole diets containing resistant starch measured in vitro and fermentation of ileal effluent. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 62, 403–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, JG, Yokoyama, WH, German, JB (1998) Butyric acid from the diet: Actions at the level of gene expression. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 38, 259–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tsubaki, J, Choi, W-K, Ingermann, AR, Twigg, SM, Kim, H-S, Rosenfeld, RG & Oh, Y (2001) Effects of sodium butyrate on expression of members of the IGF-binding protein superfamily in human mammary epithelial cells. Journal of Endocrinology 169, 97–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tsubaki, J, Hwa, V, Twigg, SM & Rosenfeld, RG (2002) Differential activation of the IGF binding protein-3 promoter by butyrate in prostate cancer cells. Endocrinology 143, 1778–1788.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van derMeulen, J, Bakker, GCM, Bakker, JGM, Visser, HD, Jongbloed, AW & Everts, H (1997) Effect of resistant starch on net portal-drained viscera flux of glucose, volatile fatty acids, urea, and ammonia in growing pigs. Journal of Animal Science 75, 2697–2704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute of Cancer Research (1997) Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective. Washington, DC: World Cancer Research Fund/ American Institute of Cancer ResearchGoogle Scholar