Abstract
In previous methods for the study of absorption, isolated intestinal loops of dogs, cats and rabbits were used, and generally one of two principles was followed: Either an acute experiment was made, which involved narcosis of the animal and a laparotomy; or a Vella fistula was established in a preceding operation. One disadvantage of these methods is that experiments made on different animals are not strictly comparable because of the difficulty to isolate in each animal intestinal loops of exactly the same absorbing surface. Furthermore, by working only on a part of the intestine, the mechanism of absorption of the whole intestinal tract as a physiological unity cannot be studied, nor can the total absorbing capacity of the whole intestine be estimated. Finally the element of body weight cannot be taken into account. Yet it seems of importance for many problems to be able to measure and express absorption in terms of unit of body weight and hour of time, or to establish a relationship between the amount of substance that has passed into the blood stream in a given time and the body weight.
The method that is proposed below allows quantitative estimation of the absorbing capacity of the whole intestinal tract under entirely physiological conditions. So far only the absorption of different sugars has been studied. Since only small laboratory animals can be obtained in sufficient number and of the desired uniformity of stock, age and nutritional condition, the method was worked out on rats. The principle is briefly as follows: A known amount of the substance under investigation is fed by stomach tube. After a given time the animals are killed and the amount of substance remaining in the intestine is determined quantitatively.
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