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Uniformly 14C-labelled plant cell walls: Production, analysis and behaviour in rat gastrointestinal tract

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

D. F. Gray
Affiliation:
Centre for Plant Science, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, The King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JH Gastrointestinal Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU
S. C. Fry
Affiliation:
Centre for Plant Science, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, The King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JH
M. A. Eastwood
Affiliation:
Gastrointestinal Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU
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Abstract

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Uniformly 14C-labelled primary cell walls (14C-PCW) were purified from suspension-cultured cells of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) grown in a medium containing D-[U-14C]glucose. The approximate polymer composition of the 14C-PCW preparation (% total 14C) was homogalacturonan 30,rhamnogalacturonan 23, xyloglucan 10, other hemicelluloses 3, cellulose 21, lignin 0,14C-labelled protein < 3 and [14C]starch < 2. The degree of methyl esterification of the pectic polysaccharides was about 25%. The 14C-PCW contained about 4% O-acetyl and 3% non-volatile ester-linked residues. When tracer levels of these 14C-PCW were fed to rats, only about 18% of the 14C appeared in the faeces;negligible levels of 14C (0.07%) remained in the gut contents 4 d after feeding. Some 14C was present in the carcass. The results show that U-14C-labelled primary cell walls can be purified and radiochemically analysed by the methods developed here, and that primary cell walls are extensively fermented by the gut microflora of the rat.

Type
Carbohydrate Metabolism
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1993

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