Journal
PFLUGERS ARCHIV-EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY
Volume 458, Issue 2, Pages 419-430Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s00424-008-0620-4
Keywords
Glucose transport; Diet; Horse; Adaptation; Small intestine
Categories
Funding
- The Horse Trust
- Horserace Betting Levy Board
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Equine Guelph
- MRC [G9900432] Funding Source: UKRI
- Medical Research Council [G9900432] Funding Source: researchfish
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Experimental and epidemiological evidence suggests that consumption of hydrolyzable carbohydrate, hCHO (grain), by horses is an important risk factor for colic, a common cause of equine mortality. It is unknown whether the small intestinal capacity to digest hCHO and/or to absorb monosaccharides is limiting, or even if horses can adapt to increased carbohydrate load. We investigated changes in the brush-border membrane carbohydrate digestive enzymes and glucose absorptive capacity of horse small intestine in response to increased hCHO. Expression of the Na+/glucose co-transporter, SGLT1, was assessed by Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, Northern blotting, QPCR, and Na+-dependent d-glucose transport. Glucose transport rates, SGLT1 protein, and mRNA expression were all 2-fold higher in the jejunum and 3- to 5-fold higher in the ileum of horses maintained on a hCHO-enriched diet compared to pasture forage. Activity of the disaccharidases was unaltered by diet. In a well-controlled study, we determined SGLT1 expression in the duodenal and ileal biopsies of horses switched, gradually over a 2-month period, from low (< 1.0 g/kg bwt/day) to high hCHO (6.0 g/kg bwt/day) diets of known composition. We show that SGLT1 expression is enhanced, with time, 2-fold in the duodenum and 3.3-fold in the ileum. The study has important implications for dietary management of the horse.
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