On the Role of Dietary Sucrose in the Development of Vascular Damage

Abstract

In recent years, the evidence that a high con- sumption of sugar is rather more closely related to mortality due to atherosclerotic heart disease than fat intake can be classified as experimental, epidemiological, and histological. On the other hand, in the course of the experimental studies on the effect of sucrose diets on rabbits without obesity and any other specific genetic factors almost all animals developed severe atherosclerotic lesions in heart, aorta, brain and kidney, which were not accompanied with lipid deposition. Little is known about the chemical changes in the blood and vascular factors which contribute to the development of these arterial lesions. For the purpose to clarify the etiology of sucrose-induced vascular lesions, this paper is concerned with the experimental and clinical studies on the absorption and metabolism of sugars. Materials and Methods Fasting male albino rats (Rochester strain of Wistar) weighing between 250-300g were used. Rats were lightly anesthetized with ether. After opening the abdomen, a piece of the middle part of the jejunum about 3cm in length was separated from the mesentery, gently washed with warm oxygenated Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate solution and everted. The everted intestine was closed at one end with silk thread and 0.4-0.6ml of Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate solution was put inside the sac. The wall was distended by filling the sac with fluid at a slight pressure. A small glass tube connected to Zn-ZnS0₄ electrode was inserted into the other end. The everted intestine was immersed in about 20ml of Krebs-Ringer fluid contained in a water-jacketed, gas-lift circulating chamber and an identical Zn-ZnS0₄ electrode was inserted in the outer solution. 1) Measurement of the potential difference The potential difference across the wall of the intestine was measured with Hitachi two pen recorder and the plus sign of the potential difference designates positivity of the serosal side relative to the mucosal side. The changes in the potential difference by adding various sugars (final concentration 20mM) to the mucosal perfusing solutions were investigated.