Stomach and upper intestine of the rat in the regulation of food intake.

The role of the upper intestine in the regulation of food intake and gastric emptying has been studied in normal, gastrectomized, and "crossover" rats, parabiotic rats with a common visceral cavity in which the proximal duodenum of each parabiont is anastomosed to the pylorus of the stomach of the partner. One rat of "crossover" pairs eats and the partner eats little or nothing. Normal rats fed a raw soybean (RS) diet ate less and gastric evacuation proceeded more slowly than in normal rats fed a heated soybean (HS) diet. It is postulated that RS contains a heat-labile intestinal irritant. The upper intestine of gastrectomized rats regulates food intake and prevents overloading of the intestine. Force feeding of excessive amounts of the RS diet elicited the secretion of much more solids and nitrogen into the upper intestine than did similar amounts of the HS diet. The upper intestines of "crossover" rats lose all control over entry of gastric contents into their duodena. Fed ad libitum, the parabiont whose stomach emptied first, ate continuously, while the recipient partner showed diarrhea. It is postulated that the control of food intake traditionally assigned to the stomach resides, rather, in the upper intestine.