CYTOKINETIC AND STRUCTURAL RESPONSES OF THE RAT SMALL-INTESTINE TO RIBOFLAVIN DEPLETION

The impaired absorption and metabolism of Fe seen in riboflavin defici ency is attributed, at least in part, to a hyperproliferative response in the small intestine, associated with an altered morphology, Studie s were conducted in female weanling Wistar rats to explore further the effect of riboflavin deficiency on the cytokinetics and structure of the small intestine, Feeding a riboflavin-deficient diet for 8 weeks f rom weaning resulted in a significantly lower villus number, a signifi cant increase in villus length and an increased rate of transit of ent erocytes along the villi, compared with weight-matched controls, A sec ond experiment focused on the 3 weeks after weaning and showed that ri boflavin deficiency inhibits the increase in villus number observed in control animals over this period, We suggest that riboflavin deficien cy induced at weaning impairs the normal increase in villus number and that prolonged deficiency leads to an adaptive increase in length of villi and depth of crypts.