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Post-oral appetite stimulation by sugars and non-metabolizable sugar analogs in mice: Role of intestinal SGLT sugar sensors

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AJP Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology

Published online on

Abstract

Post-oral sugar actions enhance the intake of and preference for sugar-rich foods, a process referred to as appetition. Here we investigated the role of intestinal sodium glucose co-transporters (SGLTs) in sugar appetition in C57BL/6J mice using sugars and non-metabolizable sugar analogs that differ in their affinity for SGLT1 and SGLT3. In Experiments 1 and 2 food-restricted mice were trained (1 h/day) to consume a flavored saccharin solution (CS-) paired with intragastric (IG) self-infusions of water and a different flavored solution (CS+) paired with infusions of 8 or 12% sugars (glucose; fructose; galactose) or sugar analogs (α-methyl-D-glucopyranoside, MDG; 3-O-methyl-D-glucopyranoside: OMG). Subsequent two-bottle CS+ vs. CS- choice tests were conducted without co-infusions. Infusions of the SGLT1 ligands glucose, galactose, MDG and OMG stimulated CS+ licking above CS- levels. However, only glucose, MDG and galactose conditioned significant CS+ preferences, with the SGLT3 ligands (glucose, MDG) producing the strongest preferences. Fructose, which is not a ligand for SGLTs, failed to stimulate CS+ intake or preference. Experiment 3 revealed that IG infusion of MDG + phloridzin (an SGLT1/3 antagonist) blocked MDG appetition, whereas phloridzin had minimal effects on glucose-induced appetition. However, adding phloretin (a GLUT2 antagonist) to the glucose + phloridzin infusion blocked glucose appetition. Taken together, these findings suggest that humoral signals generated by intestinal SGLT1 and SGLT3, and to a lesser degree GLUT2, mediate post-oral sugar appetition in mice. The MDG results indicate that sugar metabolism is not essential for the post-oral intake stimulating and preference conditioning actions of sugars in mice.