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Gastrointestinal responses to oats consumption in young adult and elderly rats: digestion, large bowel fermentation and crypt cell proliferation rates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

J. C. Mathers ,
Julia Kennard  and
O. F. W. James
J. C. Mathers
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Nutritional Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NEl 7RU
Julia Kennard
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Nutritional Sciences, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NEl 7RU
O. F. W. James
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH
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Abstract

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The present experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that ageing modifies the gastrointestinal responses to a change in diet composition. Rats of the Wag/Rij strain, either young adult (4 months of age) or elderly (27 months of age), were given a basal semi-purified diet or a diet of similar major nutrient composition containing 500 g oatmeal/kg for 17–18 d. Elderly rats digested the dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) of both diets less well than did their young adult counterparts, with more of this digestion occurring in the distal intestine. The greater flow of OM to the caecum of oats-fed animals was accompanied by significant reductions in caecal pH and increases in caecal total short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) concentration which appeared to be independent of age. However, young adults responded to feeding on oats by showing a much larger increase in the molar proportion of butyrate (332%) than did elderly animals (79%). Elderly rats had longer duodenal villi than did young adults but effects of age or diet were not detectable at other sites. With both age-groups oats consumption was associated with significant stimulation of crypt cell proliferation rate (CCPR) in the small intestine and caecum, but for the colon there was a significant reduction in CCPR with oats feeding. A reduced ability of the aged large bowel (LB) to produce butyrate may contribute to the prevelance of LB disorders in the elderly.

Keywords

AgeingOatsLarge bowel fermentationCrypt cell proliferation rateRats
Type
Gastro-Intestinal Effects of Diets Containing Complex Caebohydrates
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 70 , Issue 2 , September 1993 , pp. 567 - 584
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1993

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