1: Food Chem Toxicol 1995 Aug;33(8):631-9
Protective effect of dietary fructo-oligosaccharide in young rats against
exocrine pancreas atrophy induced by high fructose and partial copper deficiency.
Taper HS, Delzenne N, Tshilombo A, Roberfroid M
Department des Sciences Pharmaceutiques, Universite Catholique de Louvain,
Brussels, Belgium.
The objective of this investigation was to protect rats against exocrine
pancreatic atrophy by adding 22% fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS), a natural
fructan obtained from inulin, to the 50% copper-deficient diets containing
qualitatively and quantitatively different carbohydrates. Young male Wistar
rats were maintained on these diets for 10 wk, being weighed weekly then
killed and autopsied. Major organs were weighed and histologically examined.
Copper content in the diets was measured by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy.
Incomplete (50%) copper deficiency avoided precocious mortality due to
cardiovascular lesions and enabled another pathological condition to develop,
consisting of the induction of exocrine pancreas atrophy. Introduction
of gradually increasing percentages of fructose in diets at the level of
22, 42 and 62% induced a gradual increase in the copper-deficiency-mediated
pathology in rats, expressed by an increase in exocrine pancreatic atrophy.
22% FOS introduced to the diet prevented the pathology induced by both
fructose and partial copper deficiency better than starch added to diet
at the level of 20 or 40%.
PMID: 7672736, UI: 95402871