Synthetic 13C-dipeptide breath test for the rapid assessment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency in rats.

Objective: (13)C-breath tests have been investigated in order to assess pancreatic exocrine function using various (13)C-compounds, but they have not been accepted for routine clinical use. One of the barriers to their acceptance is that these tests are time-consuming and require up to several hours for breath collection. The purpose of this study was to design a novel (13)C-compound that would make a rapid (13)C-breath test for assessing exocrine pancreatic function possible.