Effect of feeding a high protein diet on solute-coupled water absorption from rat colon.

Using an in vivo sac technique, net transport of water, Na, Cl and K was studied in the colon ascendens of rats fed either a high carbohydrate (HC) or high protein (HP) diet, since water intake is elevated in HP-rats. The ligated colon sacs were filled with isotonic Krebs-Henseleit solution. Net Na and Cl absorption rates related to 1 g intestinal dry weight were 46% and 30% higher in HP-rats compared with HC-rats. Net water absorption in HP-rats exceeded that in HC-rats by 115%. Therefore the ratio between net water absorption and net absorption of solutes was higher in HP-rats than in HC-rats, and thus the hypertonicity of the absorbate was lower in the HP-rats. There was a net secretion of K in both groups of rats to about the same extent. Experiments with 22Na indicate that the increased net Na absorption in HP-rats was due to an increased unidirectional Na transport from the lumen to the blood side of the colon. The group difference in the ratio between net absorption of water and solutes might be a manifestation of regulatory mechanism controlling intestinal water absorption.