Effects of chitosan on the growth and intestinal surface integrity of hamster

Abstract

Abstract:Effects of shrimp chitosan with deacetylation degrees of 50%, 75% and 95% (DD50, DD75, DD95) on the animal growth and the surface integrity of the intestinal epithelial tissue were evaluated by oral feeding test using hamster as the animal model. The animals were fed on either a control diet, or diets containing chitosan in replace of 5% cellulose in the control diet. After 4 week feeding, the increases of body weight for the groups of chitosan-containing were higher than that of control. The liver weights for all chitosan groups were significantly higher than that of control; while the fecal weight and animal caecal weight were not significantly different. After 4 weeks of experiment the damages on the surface of the caecal epithelial tissue were observed for both DD95 and DD75 chitosan groups, and the intensity of damage increased with the increasing of deacetylation degree of chitosan. However, after 8 weeks of experiment the situation for this damage on the surface of the epithelial tissue was improved.