Male Wistar rats were meal-fed on diets containing various amounts of resistant starch in the form of raw starch (either amylomaize starch, potato starch or modified high-amylose starch) or retrograded starch (prepared from each of the starches) for 6 weeks. Two diets containing normal maize starch were fed as diets poor in resistant starch. Energy absorption (energy consumption minus faecal en...

Starch branching enzyme was purified from potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers as a single species of 79 kilodaltons and specific antibodies were prepared against both the native enzyme and against the gel-purified, denatured enzyme. The activity of potato branching enzyme could only be neutralized by antinative potato branching enzyme, whereas both types of antibodies reacted with denatured po...

Cori and his colleagues (l-6) discovered and elucidated the series of reversible chemical reactions by which glucose is transformed into glycogen in animal tissues. These reactions are catalyzed by a group of enzymes, the most fundamental of which is phosphorylase, the enzyme which catalyzes the condensation of glucose-l-phosphate (Cori ester) to starch or glycogen. The properties of phosphoryl...

In our previous study, we demonstrated that retrograded starch, a kind of resistant starch, of beans reduced serum lipid levels in rats. In this study, we examined whether retrograded starch in potato pulps could reduce serum lipid concentrations. Rats were given diets containing 15 g of retrograded starch in potato pulps from the Benimaru potato (BM) or Hokkaikogane potato (HK) in a 100 g diet...

A repeated 4×4 Latin square design was conducted with eight ileal cannulated castrates to examine the effect of source of starch and fiber on nutrient balance and energy metabolism. Pigs were fed on one of the four experimental diets: Control diet (C) mainly based on cooked rice; and diets P, S and W with the inclusion of either raw potato starch, sugar beet pulp or wheat bran supplementation, ...

The objectives of this study were to analyze the macronutrients composition, dietary fiber, and resistant starch in Bestak sweet potato variety; to identify the prebiotic components in sweet potato fiber extract (SPFE); and to evaluate the prebiotic activity of SPFE. Evaluation of prebiotic activity was based on the change in cell biomass after 24 h of growth of the probiotic strain in the pres...

The effect of gelatinization of dietary starch (wheat, corn and potato) on the distribution of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase along the small intestine of rats was studied in villus and crypt cell populations isolated by graduated scraping. Gelatinized starch preferentially stimulated jejunal reductase activity in both villus and crypt cells and consequently retained ...

Microbes emit volatile compounds that affect plant growth and development. However, little or nothing is known about how microbial emissions may affect primary carbohydrate metabolism in plants. In this work we explored the effect on leaf starch metabolism of volatiles released from different microbial species ranging from Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria to fungi. Surprisingly, we foun...

Potato plants harboring Phytochrome B (PHYB) gene from Arabidopsis thaliana or rol genes from Agrobacterium rhizogenes were used to study the effect of transgene expression on structure and properties of starch in tubers. Thermodynamic characteristics of starch (melting temperature, enthalpy of melting, thickness of crystalline lamellae) were shown to be variable depending on the transgene expr...

1. Three series of nitrogen balance experiments were performed with growing rats to test the effect of type and level of protein, fibre and starch on N excretion patterns. The design involved eighteen treatments in a 3 X 3 X 2 factorial experiment with five rats per dietary treatment. The eighteen treatments resulted from a combination of three protein treatments, three fibre treatments and two...