Abstract
Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), including acetate, propionate and butyrate, are the products of bacterial fermentation from indigestible dietary fibers in the large intestine. SCFAs have been known to play a variety of physiological and pathophysiological roles for intestine. We have recently reported the mechanism of SCFA-induced responses to the motility of the rat distal colon (Ono et al. Jpn J Physiol 65: 69-76, 2004; Mitsui et al. Neurogastroenterol Motil 17: 585-594, 2005). These results suggest that SCFAs are sensed at mucosa and modulate the colonic motility through the enteric nervous system as a neural reflex. However, the mechanism of the sense of SCFA is currently unknown. In 2003, two orphan G protein-coupled receptors, GPR41 and GPR43, have been identified as the SCFA receptors (Brown et al. J Biol Chem 278: 11312-11319, 2003; Le Poul et al. J Biol Chem 278: 25481-25489, 2003). The present study shows the localization of GPR43 in the rat intestine by RT-PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. The results of the present study indicate that GPR43 is expressed by enteroendocrine cells and mucosal mast cells in the rat intestine. [J Physiol Sci. 2006;56 Suppl:S69]
