Abstract
Summary
In rats voluntary daily food intake per 100 g body weight varied by a factor of 4-fold, from 4 g in rats with mammotropic tumors (MtT) on a high fat diet to 15 g of regular rat chow in 80% pancreatectomized rats with MtT and diabetes. The weight of the empty intestine per 100 g body weight varied proportionally and was independent of the high blood levels of pituitary hormones from MtT. The empty intestinal weight was roughly one-half of the weight of the daily food intake in all rats whether partially pancreatectomized, adrenalectomized, diabetic or normal. In pigeons the intestinal weight is not changed much in weight by merely altering food intake, and its weight is nearly doubled by injections of 1 to 5 mg of growth hormone or prolactin daily or equivalent without change in food intake. No explanation other than species difference for these results is possible from the current data. These experiments suggest that food intake data studies are a necessary supplement to intestinal weight studies.
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