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Gastrointestinal and Neuroscience Research Groups, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1
In omnivores, gradual alterations in dietary nutrient composition are observed. To efficiently absorb dietary nutrients these animals alter intestinal nutrient transporter expression to match the pattern of nutrient intake. This often involves reprogramming the crypt cell to express greater numbers of the relevant transport system. The aim of this study was to determine whether vagal afferents are involved in this adaptive process. Guinea pigs were habituated to a low-carbohydrate diet and then switched to a high-carbohydrate diet. The resultant increase in glucose transporter expression was assessed by determining rates of glucose transport in jejunal brush-border membrane vesicles. Ablation of vagal afferents was accomplished by application of capsaicin to exposed cervical vagi and confirmed using Fast blue tracer studies. We found that animals in which vagal afferents were ablated with capsaicin were unable to alter rates of glucose transport in response to an increase in dietary carbohydrate. This suggests that vagal afferents are involved in this adaptive process. These findings support a role for the vagus nerve in regulating intestinal transport function, which may be important to consider in clinical disease that involves the vagus nerve.
glucose transport; adaptation; vagus; vagal afferents; capsaicin
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A. T. Stearns, A. Balakrishnan, J. Rounds, D. B. Rhoads, S. W. Ashley, and A. Tavakkolizadeh Capsaicin-sensitive vagal afferents modulate posttranscriptional regulation of the rat Na+/glucose cotransporter SGLT1 Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol, April 1, 2008; 294(4): G1078 - G1083. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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