Correlation of Chromium Sesquioxide and [ 14 C]Cellulose as Fecal Markers in Rats

Abstract

Summary

Tail-cupped rats were fed diets of varying cellulose contents. At the end of a 3-day period rats were given a pulse dose of a diet labeled with [¹⁴C]cellulose and chromium sesquioxide. The results demonstrate that passage of chromium sesquioxide was highly correlated with passage of [¹⁴C]cellulose and this correlation was independent of either marker's correlation with fecal dry matter. These results indicate that use of chromium sesquioxide as a fecal marker is a good estimate of cellulose passage in the tail-cupped rat.