Circadian variation in the gastric-emptying response to eating in rats previously fed once or twice daily

Four experiments dealt with circadian variation in the gastric emptying (GE) response to eating, among rats accustomed to eating once (1x) or twice daily (2x). In measuring GE response, a test meal [10 g accustomed diet per (kg body weight)3/4] was fed close to a scheduled eating time or after a delay of up to 24 h. GE response was the fraction of the ingested test meal emptied per hr, up to a known degree of emptying, e.g., 50-58% of the test meal. Animals accustomed to the prescribed eating patterns ate promptly and at similarly rapid rates at all times of day. GE response, as plotted against time of response, fit a 24-h cosine model. Acrophase (time of maximum GE response of the fitted model) was similar, being 1.5 and 2.1 h, respectively, after the starting time of the accustomed dark-span meal for 1x and 2x rats, while amplitude (1/2 the maximum-to-minimum difference) was 41 and 24% of the MESOR (rhythm-adjusted mean). Characteristics of the GE rhythm appeared to be unchanged among 1x rats, severely versus minimally restricted in food intake during a final 9 days.