The fate of soluble mucin in the gastro-intestinal tract of sheep
- 1 February 1973
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in The Journal of Agricultural Science
- Vol. 80 (1) , 63-69
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021859600057063
Abstract
Summary Experiments were done to determine the fate of soluble mucins in the gastrointestinal tract of sheep. Incubation of a soluble mucin with liquor from large intestinal contents resulted in loss of mucin. Some of this loss was due to soluble enzymes. The loss of mucin was less when incubation was with rumen liquor and variable when with ileal liquor. The mean amounts of nitrogen in a soluble mucin fraction which was soluble in trichloroacetic acid (T.C.A.-soluble mucin) were 2·5, 7·3 and 20·0 mg per 100 ml in rumen caecal and faecal liquors respectively. These amounts were only a small proportion of the total soluble nitrogen in these fluids. Amounts of T.C.A.-soluble mucin, measured by sugar content, were greatest in contents from the small intestine. When the amounts of T.C.A.-soluble mucin were compared with the amounts of lignin in the samples, there was an increase between the abomasum and the first part of the small intestine and then a decrease to the caecum. Amounts relative to lignin were low in other parts of the gastro-intestinal tract. The greatest ratio of fucose to rhamnose in T.C.A.-soluble mucin from gastro-intestinal liquors was in ileal liquor. The presence of the two methyl pentoses, fucose and rhamnose, indicates that the T.C.A.-soluble mucin is derived from mucus and bacteria.Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- Ammonia in the large intestine of herbivoresBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1971
- The digestion of bacterial mucopeptide constituents in the sheep: 2. The digestion of muramic acidThe Journal of Agricultural Science, 1971
- The chemical composition of rumen bacteria and cell walls from rumen bacteriaBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1970
- Digestion of food by the grazing sheep. I. The rate of flow in digestaAustralian Journal of Agricultural Research, 1964
- Relationship of Colominic Acid (Poly N-Acetylneuraminic Acid) to Bacteria which Contain Neuraminic AcidJournal of General Microbiology, 1962
- Isolation and Identification of Rhamnose from Rabbit SkinNature, 1961
- Proteolysis in the Sheep Rumen by Whole and Fractionated Rumen ContentsJournal of General Microbiology, 1960
- Studies on mucoproteins III. The accessibility to trypsin of the susceptible bonds in ovine submaxillary gland mucoproteinBiochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1960
- MUCINASES IN ULCERATIVE COLITISThe Lancet, 1951
- OBSERVATIONS ON THE TREATMENT OF HUMAN GASTRIC AND COLONIC MUCUS WITH LYSOZYME 1Journal of Clinical Investigation, 1950