Impact of alternate day fasting on intestinal epithelium
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- February 26, 2019
- Creator
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Wajahn, Jennifer
- Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Nutrition
- Abstract
- It is well-established that long term calorie restriction (CR) has many beneficial effects, however, research has shown that adherence to long term CR is low. Alternate day fasting (ADF) is a diet regimen that has emerged as a possibly more viable alternative to traditional CR models because subjects are not required to restrict calories every day. Studies have shown ADF to have many of the same physiologic benefits as CR, including the improvements of biomarkers of some chronic diseases. The small intestine is one of the first organs exposed to digested nutrients and is lined with a monolayer of intestinal epithelial cells of which are highly renewable. Because the intestinal epithelium is vital in the digestion and absorption of nutrients, we are interested in understanding how it is impacted by the recently popularized, ADF diet regimen. The following aims will test a central hypothesis that ADF will have similar protective effects as CR in metabolic and intestinal parameters. AIM 1 will assess the effects of ADF on overall metabolic markers and phenotype. CD-1 mice will be randomly divided into one of two groups: ADF, fed ad libitum for 24 hours followed by removal of food for the next 24 hours, or control, fed ad libitum. The designated diet will be administered for 20 weeks. During the diet, food intake will be measured by weighing the amount of food remaining in the cage after feeding. After 20 weeks, body weight, fat mass, and plasma triglyceride levels will be measured. We hypothesize ADF mice will adapt to ADF by decreasing body weight, fat mass, and plasma triglycerides. AIM 2 will assess the effects of ADF on the intestinal epithelium. Fasting and refeeding studies show the rapid effect of nutrients on crypt-villus morphology. Therefore, we will measure crypt depth, villus height, and crypt cell number in ADF and control animals. We hypothesize ADF will impact the crypt-villus axis by decreasing villus height and crypt depth. Proliferation of the intestinal epithelium will be analyzed. To do this, the number of proliferating cells and mRNAs of genes implicated in pathways known to impact intestinal proliferation will be measured. We hypothesize there will be a decrease in cell proliferation associated with decreased mRNAs involved in intestinal proliferation.
- Date of publication
- spring 2014
- Keyword
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Note
- Funding: None
- Advisor
- Lund, Pauline Kay
- Degree
- Bachelor of Science in Public Health
- Honors level
- Highest Honors
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Extent
- 27
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