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Comparative Physiology of the Hindgut and its Nutritional Significance¹

University of Guelph², Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1

Abstract

The space within the digestive tract should be considered as an occluded part of the animal's environment. The processes taking place within this space are subject to less precise control and regulation by the animal than the activities which take place in the organs and tissues within the animal's body such as the liver or muscle. The wall of the digestive tract presents a barrier between the animal body and the lumen of the gut and the properties of this barrier are important in maintaining tissue homeostasis: simple molecules can be absorbed, whereas the complex molecules Avithin the tissue fluids are retained. Food materials contain diverse and complex molecules to which the wall of the intestinal tract is impermeable, and thus it is necessary that these complex molecules are broken down to simple molecules suitable for absorption. This simplification of the food occurs either through the action of endogenously produced digestive enzymes or as a result of catabolism by the microorganisms within the digestive tract in a symbiotic relationship with the host animal.

¹ Introduction to a Symposium on Digestion in the Hindgut presented at the Joint Regional Meeting of the ADSA-ASAS-CSAS, Fredericton, N.B., July 10 to 13, 1977.

² Department of Nutrition.