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Interdigestive intestinal myoelectric activity is characterized by repetitive aborally migrating complexes which are inhibited by feeding. The aim of the present work was to study the effects of different food components on the duration of inhibition of the myoelectric complex and on the number of spike potentials during this period. 4 dogs were prepared for chronic recordings with electrodes implanted on the jejunum and an alimentary cannula placed into the duodenum. Glucose, peptides and lipids were given into the cannula at doses of 7.5 and 15 kcal/kg. The results indicated that the inhibition of the myoelectric complex was longer for lipids than for glucose and even longer than for peptides. When the caloric load was increased, the duration of inhibition was also increased. As concerns the spike potentials, their number was increased after administration of glucose and of peptides, whereas it was decreased after lipids. Lastly, the increase of the caloric load did not change the number of spike potentials significantly. These results indicated that the duration of inhibition of the myoelectric complex depended on both the nature and the caloric load of the food components, whereas the number of spike potentials was determined only by the composition of food.

In rats subjected to 90% jejunoileal by-pass or in sham-operated controls, liver function was compared to plasma nutritional state and adaptation of the intestine in continuity over a period of 3 months. While the plasma levels of GOT, GPT, and esterases A and C as cholinesterase C did not differ in either group, the percentage of retention of BSP increased until 8 weeks, then returned progressively to control values 12 weeks after small-bowel bypass. In contrast, plasma nonesterified fatty acid levels decreased significantly until 6 weeks, then recovered control values over the following periods. Plasma total protein and albumin levels also diminished after jejunoileal bypass, the most marked decrease being at the 4th postoperative week. The increase in villus size following the intestinal bypass was considered pronounced for the ileum between the 8th and the 12th week. These results suggest that BSP clearance is the most reliable criterion for hepatic dysfunction in the rat subjected to a jejunoileal bypass. In addition, the parallelism between the variations of BSP clearance, intestinal adaptation, and plasma nutritional state argue for the "nutritional" theory as the most probable explanation for the formation of hepatic lesions.

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