The effect of relative bowel rest on collagen in the colonic wall. Studies in the rat.

In previous studies it was shown that diminished colonic content pre- and postoperatively, obtained by feeding rats low residue diet, results in less marked postoperative disturbances in collagen metabolism than in animals fed standard laboratory diet. In the present investigation the effect of relative bowel rest on collagen content and collagen concentration in the intact colonic wall was studied by feeding unoperated rats low residue diet. It was found that the colonic and cecal contents were reduced significantly and that this primarily affected the non-collagenous substances in the colon with a marked decrease, while the collagen content was unchanged. In the cecum, both the collagen and the non-collagenous contents were significantly increased. Thus, the pattern of change in biochemical response varied in different parts of the large intestine after institution of bowel rest. Further, the present data imply that collagen concentration can be misleading as a measure of the actual collagen amount.