[Intestinal glucose absorption in rats of different ages (author's transl)].

We studied the intestinal glucose absorption in a colony of rats at different ages. The experiment was carried out on animals of the following ages: 3, 5, 10 and 20 months. All rats were fasted 48 hr prior to the administration of 2 ml. 50% glucose solution by an oesophageal sound. After one hour the animals were killed, the intestine was washed with a determinated quantity of distilled water and homogenized, to find out any trace of glucose in mucose cells. Glucose absorption was calculated as the difference between the quantity introduced and that left in the intestine. The results of this experiment show that glucose absorption expressed as mg/100 gm. body weight/hr decrease significantly during the first 10 months, with no marked changes there after. Absorption rapidly increase during the first 16 month, if expressed as mg/hr. This is probably due to a remarkable weight increase without a proportional increase of intestinal length.