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New insight into butyrate metabolism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2007

Knud Erik Bach Knudsen ,
Anja Serena ,
Nuria Canibe  and
Katri S. Juntunen
Knud Erik Bach Knudsen*
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, P.O. Box 50, DK-8830, Tjele, Denmark
Anja Serena
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, P.O. Box 50, DK-8830, Tjele, Denmark
Nuria Canibe
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, P.O. Box 50, DK-8830, Tjele, Denmark
Katri S. Juntunen
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, P.O. Box 50, DK-8830, Tjele, Denmark University of Kuopio, Department of Clinical Nutrition, P.O. Box 1627, FIN-70211, Kuopio, Finland
*
*Corresponding author: Professor Knud Erik Bach Knudsen, fax +45 89 99 13 78, [email protected]
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Abstract

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Butyrate is a C4 acid produced by microbial fermentation of carbohydrates and protein in the large intestine of all animal species. The factor of prime importance for the production rate of butyrate in the lower gut is type and levels of non-digestible carbohydrates entering the large intestine. It was previously believed that 85–90% of the butyrate produced in the gut was cleared when passing the gut epithelium, but recent studies with catheterised pigs have shown that the concentration of butyrate in the portal vein is strongly influenced by the production rate in the large intestine. Increased gut production of butyrate further raises the circulating level of butyrate. For good reason it is not possible with current technologies to perform direct measurements of the variation in the butyrate concentration in the portal vein of human subjects, but short-chain fatty acid levels in portal blood from sudden-death victims, subjects undergoing emergency surgery or planned surgery have indicated a higher gut production and absolute and relative concentration of butyrate in non-fasted as compared with fasted human subjects. However, despite an expected higher gut production of butyrate when feeding a high-fibre rye-bread-based diet as compared with a low-fibre wheat-bread-based diet, there was no difference in absolute or relative levels of butyrate in the peripheral blood of human subjects.

Keywords

ButyrateCatheterised pigsMetabolism
Type
Session: Short-chain fatty acids
Information
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , February 2003 , pp. 81 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2003

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