Breakdown of mucin and plant polysaccharides in the human colon

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
To obtain an estimate of the extent to which complex carbohydrates are degraded by bacteria in the human colon, aqueous extracts of colon contents from 4 subjects were separated into high and low MW fractions by chromatography on a Sephadex G-100 column. The composition of these fractions was compared with the composition of similar fractions from ileal contents, i.e., from material entering the colon. In all 4 subjects, high MW carbohydrate concentrations were lower in the colon than in the ileum, indicating that breakdown of complex carbohydrate occurs in the colon. The high MW carbohydrate fraction contained sugars characteristic of plant polysaccharides (arabinose, xylose, mannose, rhamnose) and, sugars characteristic of mucin (fucose, hexosamines, sialic acids). Concentrations of most of these sugars were uniformly lower in the colon than in the ileum. Since high MW protein concentations were lower in the colon than in the ileum of 2 of the 4 subjects tested, some degradation of proteins may occur in the colon.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: