Principal Component Analysis of DGGE profiles of bacterial rRNA genes present in fecal samples from rat fed with control diet (green) or 10 g apples a day (red), respectively. A: Uninitiated animals. The amount of variability accounted for by Factor X is 25.0%, by Factor Y 16.2% and by Factor Z 13.6%. B: DMH initiated animals. The amount of variability accounted for LCZ696 research buy by Factor X is 31.6%, by Factor Y 14.3% and by Factor Z 12.0%.

Comparison of initiated and uninitiated animals by PCA revealed no grouping related to DMH initiation. Effect of long-term consumption of apple purée, pomace, pectin, and juice on the rat cecal environment (Experiment B) To clarify which of the components present in apples that caused the increase in enzymatic activity as well as the changes in cecal bacterial composition, a number of different apple components were tested for 14 weeks in seven groups of 16 initiated animals as described in Materials and Methods. No effect was observed of any of the components tested on cecal pH, cecal weight and GUS activity of the rats (Table 1). The level of cecal BGL activity was lower in the group fed whole apple purée compared to all other groups, including the control group (P < 0.05). In the pomace and

the 3.3% pectin groups, there were significant increases in the concentration of butyrate from 14.3 ± 3.7 μmol/g cecal selleck products content in the control group to 27.9 ± 12.6 μmol/g in the rats fed pomace (P < 0.01) and 20.8 ± 11.8 OSI-027 research buy μmol/g in the rats fed pectin (P < 0.05) (Table 1). Table 1 Cecal parameters from Experiment B Dietary group Control Puree Cloudy juice 0.33% pectin Clear juice Pomace 3.3% pectin Acetate (μmol/g cecal content) 98.0 ± 26.6 94.7 ± 30.0

81.5 ± 40.0 86.7 ± 39.7 79.3 ± 27.8 110.9 ± 29.9 101.9 ± 36.7 Propionate (μmol/g cecal content) 25.7 ± 5.8 24.9 ± 7.4 22.2 ± 10.1 22.6 ± 10.0 21.7 ± 8.7 27.2 ± 8.0 22.8 ± 6.0 Butyrate (μmol/g cecal content) 14.3 ± 3.7 16.5 ± 7.2 15.7 ± 10.4 15.2 ± 12.5 15.2 ± 8.0 27.9 ± 12.6** 20.8 ± 11.8* Cecal pH 7.1 ± 0.1 7.1 ± 0.1 7.1 ± 0.3 7.2 ± 0.3 7.2 ± 0.1 7.0 ± 0.1 7.2 ± 0.4 Relative cecum weight (g/kg b.w.) Sitaxentan 7.4 ± 1.5 9.2 ± 1.8 8.0 ± 1.3 7.9 ± 1.5 8.7 ± 2.0 8.8 ± 1.7 8.9 ± 2.2 GUS (U/g cecal content) 5.9 ± 1.8 6.4 ± 2.4 7.2 ± 3.2 7.2 ± 3.4 6.5 ± 3.4 6.5 ± 2.5 7.6 ± 2.7 BGL (U/g cecal content) 5.2 ± 2.2 3.9 ± 1.1** 5.0 ± 2.6 5.9 ± 2.5 4.4 ± 1.1 5.3 ± 1.2 5.7 ± 1.9 The data are averages and standard deviations from 16 animals in each group.