Effect of Xylooligosaccharide Feeding on Cecum Steroid Metabolism in Rats Compared with Chitosan Feeding

Takao Suzuki*†, Natsuko Kyo-Nakashima* and Yoshikazu Ayaki*

*Department of Biochemistry and †Laboratory for Radioisotope Experiments, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683, Japan

The effect of xylooligosaccharide (XO) feeding on metabolism of steroids in the bile and the cecum was studied with male rats as compared with that of chitosan feeding. With regand to biliary bile-acid composition, β-muricholic acid was increased but hyodeoxycholic acid and its 6β-isomer were decreased by chitosan and XO feeding. The XO feeding inhibited the conversion of cholesterol to coprostanol in the cecum as effectively as the chitosan feeding did. Both indigestible saccharides caused a marked change in the cecum bile-acid composition; namely, β-muricholic acid increased and ω-muricholic acid tended to increase, whereas hyodeoxycholic acid and 3α-hydroxy-6-keto-5β-cholanoic acid decreased. Lithocholic acid and deoxycholic acid tended to increase in the chitosan feeding but rather to decrease in the XO feeding. In addition, pH of the cecum contents became higher after ingestion of chitosan diet, but tended to be lower after ingestion of the XO diet. These data suggest that different types of indigestible saccharides influence the steroid metabolism in the rat cecum to greater or lesser degree, respectively, according to their properties.

Key words: bile acid; chitosan; indigestible saccharide; sterol; xylooligosaccharide

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