Effects of specific dietary sugars on the incorporation of 13C label from dietary glucose into neutral sugars of rat intestine and serum glycoproteins.

Although theoretically all glycoprotein sugars can be derived from glucose, it may be hypothesized that specific dietary sugars could be preferential substrates for glycoprotein synthesis. To test this hypothesis, groups of rats received either continuously (continuous-labelling experiment) or for a single nutritional period (pulse-labelling experiment) a 13C-rich diet containing either maize starch or artificially labelled [13C]glucose. Some groups of rats were also provided during a single nutritional period with low amounts (20-200 mg/animal) of low-13C dietary sugars (mannose, galactose, fucose or fructose).