Abstract
The small intestine of 3-week-old gnotobiotic chicks was divided into five equal segments for analysis. Since it has been found that most fat absorption occurs in the third and fourth segments, they were selected for study. The major fatty acids in the diet and the feces of chicks were palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acids. Consequently, these fatty acids were selected for quantitative analyses in the absorption studies. Germ-free chicks were contaminated at 7 days of age with bacteria isolated from the third and fourth intestinal segments, except for the Escherichia coli contaminant, which had been previously isolated from a chicken with air sac disease. There were two different degrees of response by chicks to the bacterial contaminants in this study. For this reason, the chicks were placed retrospectively into two categories according to their response to environmental conditions. The first category (A) contained germ-free chicks and chicks monocontaminated with E. coli, Staphylococcus, or Lactobacillus. The second category (B) was composed of conventional chicks and chicks monocontaminated with Streptococcus faecalis or Clostridium welchii, dicontaminated with S. faecalis and C. welchii, and accidentally polycontaminated with coliforms and anaerobic gram-positive bacilli. Chicks in category A demonstrated increased absorption of palmitic and stearic acids and total fat as compared to category B chicks. Conversely, category B chicks showed slightly increased absorption of oleic and linoleic acids. Thin-layer chromatographic analyses demonstrated that cholesterol esters were affected similarly to fatty acids. The site of absorption of fatty acids, cholesterol esters, and total fat was unchanged, regardless of the environment.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Cole J. R., Jr, Boyd F. M. Chemical analyses of the blood of chicks infected or endointoxicated with Escherichia coli. Poult Sci. 1965 Nov;44(6):1551–1555. doi: 10.3382/ps.0441551. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- FOLCH J., LEES M., SLOANE STANLEY G. H. A simple method for the isolation and purification of total lipides from animal tissues. J Biol Chem. 1957 May;226(1):497–509. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- RENNER R. SITE OF FAT ABSORPTION IN THE CHICK. Poult Sci. 1965 May;44:861–864. doi: 10.3382/ps.0440861. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- TREXLER P. C., REYNOLDS L. I. Flexible film apparatus for the rearing and use of germfree animals. Appl Microbiol. 1957 Nov;5(6):406–412. doi: 10.1128/am.5.6.406-412.1957. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]