The Effect of Unabsorbed Sucrose- or Mannitol- Induced Accelerated Transit on Absorption in the Human Small Intestine

Abstract

The absorption of arginine, xylose, and palmitic acid was studied by a perfusion method in a 50 cm segment of proximal small intestine of three children during normal and accelerated passage of a test solution through the segment. Accelerated transit was induced by substituting sucrose for 150 mmoles/1 of glucose in the test solution in a child with congenital sucrose-isomaltose malabsorption and mannitol in two children with normal intestines. The findings were similar in the normal children and the patient. The transit time through the test segment was shortened by 50–70%, and the absorption of palmitic acid, xylose, and arginine was reduced by an average of 42, 35, and 9.5%, respectively. These findings suggest that the slight generalized malabsorption observed in patients with congenital disaccharide malabsorption is due to the hurried passage of intestinal content through the small intestine.

Key-words:

• Diarrhoea
• disaccharides
• intestine, small
• intestinal absorption
• arginine
• palmitic acid
• xylose