Intestinal digestion and absorption of sucrose in experimental diabetes

Intestinal sucrose hydrolysis and absorption of monosaccharide products was studied in vivo utilizing the segmental perfusion technique in diabetic and control rats. The proximal jejunum was perfused with 20 mM sucrose, 140 mM NaCl and 0.5% PEG with 14C-PEG, as the nonabsorbable marker. Rates of sucrose hydrolysis and adsorption of monosaccharide products (fructose, and glucose) were determined. There were no statistically significant differences between the diabetic and control rats. This indicates that the previously reported increase in sucrase activity in diabetes does not correlate with enhanced rates of sucrose hydrolysis. Several possibilities for the interpretation of these results are discussed.