Microcalorimetric investigation into the metabolic activity of rat caecal flora in the presence of different sugars and sugar substitutes.

When adapting young rats to different sugar substitutes (sorbitol, PolydextroseR and PalatinitR), effects were seen in the caecal morphology and caecal content e.g. bacterial concentration, which did not occur when adapting rats to sugars (glucose, sucrose). For in vitro studies, anaerobic growth of caecal flora in thioglycollate medium with and without the respective substances was monitored by continuous measurement of heat production, optical density and pH. Additionally, biochemical analyses and light microscopic observations were performed in order to detect differences between adapted and non-adapted flora. In particular the microcalorimetric data furnished valuable information about alterations in bacterial metabolic activity after adaptation to sugars and sugar substitutes, and clearly indicated that all the substances tested influenced the metabolism of caecal flora.