Sabat Pablo, Bozinovic Francisco
Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile; Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology & Biodiversity, Chile.
Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology & Biodiversity, Chile; Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 6513677, Chile.
Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2008 Nov;151(3):455-460. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2007.07.009. Epub 2007 Aug 1.
We characterize the flexibility in digestive performance in degus (Octodon degus) an herbivorous rodent. We tested the hypothesis that dietary and physiological-digestive flexibility are correlated. Degus were fed with artificial diets of different chemical composition from weaning to adulthood and their digestive performance was measured through records of apparent digestibility. The starch content of the acclimation diet was not correlated with protein digestibility nor was it correlated with starch digestibility. In addition, digestive tract morphology was not affected by dietary treatments. Hence, an absence of morphological and physiological flexibility related to digestive traits was observed in degus. The lower flexibility in digestive performance given by our dietary experimental treatments of degus, may be an evolutionary constraint related to their specialized herbivorous food habits.
我们描述了草食性啮齿动物八齿鼠（Octodon degus）消化性能的灵活性。我们检验了饮食和生理消化灵活性相关的假设。从断奶到成年，给八齿鼠喂食不同化学成分的人工饲料，并通过表观消化率记录来测量它们的消化性能。适应期饲料的淀粉含量与蛋白质消化率无关，也与淀粉消化率无关。此外，消化道形态不受饮食处理的影响。因此，在八齿鼠中观察到与消化特征相关的形态和生理灵活性缺失。我们对八齿鼠进行的饮食实验处理所导致的消化性能较低的灵活性，可能是与其特化的草食性饮食习惯相关的一种进化限制。
