Small Intestinal Goblet Cell Proliferation Induced by Ingestion of Soluble and Insoluble Dietary Fiber Is Characterized by An Increase in Sialylated Mucins in Rats

The distribution of mucous secreting cells in the gastrointestinal tracts of three small rodents from Saudi Arabia: Acomys dimidiatus , Meriones rex and Meriones libycus

“…Similarly, an increase in numbers of mucus secreting goblet cells is present in the colon of the human (Forstner, 1978) and three insectivorous mammalian species (Boonzaier et al, 2013). Due to the vulnerability of sialomucins to bacterial degradation, sulfomucin secreting cells are expected to dominate in the large intestine where the bacterial load is high (Fontaine et al, 1996, Deplancke and Gaskins, 2001, Hino et al, 2012and Machado-Neto et al, 2013. This was true in M. rex in the present study where the number of sulfomucin secreting goblet cells increased significantly towards the distal GIT.…”

“…By contrast, sialomucins dominated in the small intestine of A. dimidiatus, human, gerbil, C. cyanea and A. hottentotus ( Table 5), whereas mixed acid mucins predominated in the small intestine of M. rex. The distribution of sialomucin secreting cells in the SE + C differed between the Merionesspecies as M. libycus presented with more sialomucin secreting cells compared to M. rex, which might be due to the dietary differences between these two species as Hino et al (2012) found that fiber intake increases the production of sialomucins in the small intestine of rats. Both M. libycus and A. dimidiatus consume mostly seeds, whereas M. rex consumes an herbivorous diet (Nowak and Paradiso, 1983, Varty, 1990and Harrison and Bates, 1991.…”

“…Due to the neutral pH in the small intestine, degradation of sulfomucins is reduced in rats (Hino et al, 2012). Therefor sulfomucins is expected to predominate in the small intestine, as seen in some species studied by Sheahan and Jervis (1976) (Table 5).…”

“…It is suggested that sulfomucins are able to reduce the rate at which microflora degrade mucins (Robertson and Wright, 1997) as the high sulfate content of sulfomucins decrease its susceptibility to bacterial glycosidases, limiting the rate and extent of mucin degradation (Hino et al, 2012). Sulfomucins predominated over sialomucins in the colon of the African elephant, A. spinosissimus, cat, dog, some primates and rodent species, whereas mixed acid mucins predominated in the colon of C. cyanea species ( Table 5) in accordance to the Meriones species of the present study.…”

Non-Effect of an Antibiotic Treatment on Dietary Fiber-Induced Goblet Cell Proliferation in the Ileum of Rats

“…Our series of studies has shown that dietary fiber (DF) up-regulated the secretion of small intestinal mucins in proportion to either the bulk-forming property or viscosity of DF ingested. [1][2][3][4][5] The increase in mucin content of the small intestine has appeared to be due to the proliferation of goblet cells. [2][3][4][5] However, the underlying mechanism responsible for the increase in number of goblet cells by DF ingestion is unclear.…”