Effects of dietary propionate on hepatic glucose production, whole-body glucose utilization, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in normal rats.

Increased intake of dietary fibres is associated with several beneficial effects on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. The colonic fermentation of dietary fibres produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFA; acetate, propionate and butyrate). Some authors have suggested that SCFA could be partly responsible for the effects of dietary fibres. The purpose of the present study was to test the effects of one of the SCFA, propionate. The effects of moderate amounts of dietary propionate on insulin sensitivity and hepatic glucose production were studied in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Two groups of twenty-one adult rats were fed for 3 weeks on a diet containing 78 g propionate/kg (P) or 78 g/kg of a poorly fermentable cellulose (control group; C). Feed intake, body weight, fasting plasma glucose, insulin, free fatty acids, alanine, lactate, glycerol and beta-hydroxybutyrate levels were measured weekly in anaesthetized rats. At the end of the feeding period basal hepatic glucose production (BHGP) was measured with a primed continuous infusion of [3-3H]glucose and the in vivo insulin sensitivity in rats was quantified by the euglycaemic-hyperinsulinaemic clamp technique (0.6 and 2 U/kg per h). At that time fasting plasma glucose measured in anaesthetized rats was significantly lower in group P than in group C: 7.7 (SE 0.2) v. 8.5 (SE 0.2) mmol/l respectively (P < 0.002); plasma insulin levels were not significantly different. Neither the BHGP (mg/min per kg; C 14.8 (SE 1.3), P 15.1 (SE 1.3); n 7, not significant) nor the basal metabolic clearance (ml/min per kg; 8.9 (SE 0.8) v. 9.9 (SE 1.1); not significant) were different between treatments. Hepatic glucose production and glucose utilization at the two insulin concentrations (approximately 500 and 1500 mU/l respectively, n 7) did not differ significantly between the two groups. These results show that dietary propionate chronically ingested by normal rats could decrease fasting glycaemia, but from our findings, no effect on hepatic glucose production and whole-body glucose utilization could be clearly demonstrated.