Histochemical Changes in the Rat Small Intestine Associated with Enhanced Absorption after High Bulk Feeding

Abstract

The dietary stress of high bulk feeding in the rat has been shown to promote increased absorptive capacity by the small intestine. The histochemical enzyme pattern of the small intestine in rats so stressed was investigated to explore a possible enzyme mediated transport system. This enzyme pattern in the bulk fed animals was compared with the pattern from corresponding intestinal sites in control animals given a normal diet. The intestine from the rats stressed with kaolin as a dietary bulk expander, showed an increase in the activity of leucine amino-peptidase and in the activity of several dehydrogenases. The significance of these findings in relation to the enhanced absorptive capacity is discussed.