Mucin secretion in germfree rats fed fiber-free and psyllium diets and bacterial mass and carbohydrate fermentation after colonization.

The effect of psyllium on mucin secretion was determined by comparing water-soluble and -insoluble fractions of excreta from germfree rats fed a fiber-free (FF) diet or a diet containing psyllium seed husk (PS). Excreta from the same rats after colonization with a rat mixed cecal culture were separated into water-soluble, plant, and bacterial fractions to compare the remaining carbohydrate and the mass of bacteria. The sugar composition and water solubility of carbohydrate in excreta from germfree rats fed FF diets indicated that a primary fermentable substrate was mucin. PS increased fecal excretion of mucin-derived sugars almost threefold in germfree rats. Fecal carbohydrate was reduced from 619 to 237 mumol/g of dry feces and mostly in the bacterial fraction when rats fed an FF diet were colonized. The total sugar content and the amount of muramic acid, but not bacterial counts and mass, indicated that PS increased fecal bacteria. Fractionation of excreta from PS-fed rats was complicated by a gel which, based on sugar composition, was PS. Sugar composition of the water-soluble fraction from excreta from PS-fed rats suggested that it contained some bacterial component, possibly exopolysaccharides and some of the PS, but not mucin. PS digestibility ranged from 60 to 80%, depending on what fecal fraction was used for output. Because of the presence of PS-derived sugars in the gel and soluble fraction, it was not possible to determine which, if any, of the PS digestibilities was correct.