Relation of pancreatic exocrine to nutrition of the rat

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Abstract
Pancreatectomy in the rat, sufficient to induce severe diabetes, is without practical effect on the absorption of the nutrients of purified diets. Attempts to reduce the contribution of small residual fragments of pancreas revealed that the rat is capable of normal or near normal digestion with less than 1% of the contribution of its exocrine pancreas. The ability of the duct-ligated rat to re-establish exocrine flow was demonstrated, and a procedure was developed to circumvent this adaptation. This produced rats with highly variable abilities to absorb nutrients. The intestine is implicated as a major factor determining the ability of an animal to absorb nutrients in the absence of pancreatic exocrine secretions.