The response in the blood of piglets to oral doses of galactose and glucose and intravenous administration of galactose.
The kinetics of the response in the blood of piglets to physiological oral intakes of galactose and glucose, and intravenous administration of galactose are described. Following the intravenous administration of galactose to 2- and 10-d-old piglets (n 7), the half-life was 7.98 (SD 0.75) and 7.99 (SD 1.89) min respectively, and efficient elimination rate was 9.09 (SD 2.15) and 8.75 (SD 0.79)% per min respectively. The turnover of galactose in the piglets was 100.3 micrograms/min per kg body weight. These observations demonstrate that galactose was rapidly removed from the blood of the piglets. While the dosing and sampling procedures stimulated hyperglycaemia, they had no effect on the concentration of galactose in the peripheral plasma. The galactose area under the curve (adjusted to the plasma volume of the animal) following a dose of either galactose or galactose plus glucose was 1.75 (SD 0.15) and 1.95 (SD 0.14) arbitrary units respectively in 2-d-old piglets and 1.96 (SD 0.26) and 1.98 (SD 0.10) arbitrary units respectively in 10-d-old piglets. Since the presence of glucose did not lower the adjusted area under the curve for galactose in the peripheral blood, the effect of glucose on the metabolism of galactose in piglets was more like that reported for rats than that for man, guinea-pigs or mice. It is suggested that the galactose moiety of lactose may make an important contribution to the replenishment of liver glycogen in the neonatal piglet.
Department of Biochemistry, University of Western Australia, Nedlands.
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Bird
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Hartmann
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D005690:Galactose / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D005947:Glucose / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006207:Half-Life; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D013045:Species Specificity; D013552:Swine / Q000097:blood*
D005947:Glucose; D005690:Galactose