Effects of Oral Chlortetracycline on Diarrhea and on the Dry Weights of Cleaned Intestinal Organs in Rats Fed Two Different Diets

Abstract

Feeding chlortetracycline in the diet reduced the total number of fecal discharges both in rats fed a basal cornstarch diet and in rats fed a 25% lactose diet. Diarrhea occurred in many of the lactose-fed rats during the first 2 weeks, but neither the ratio of diarrheal discharges to total discharges nor recovery from the diarrhea was affected by chlortetracycline. Chlortetracycline did not significantly alter the absolute weight of the small intestine or of the colon plus rectum in rats fed either diet. However, it decreased the small intestine weight:body weight ratio in the lactose-fed rats and decreased the colon plus rectum weight:body weight ratio in rats fed both diets. It increased the absolute and relative weights of the cecum in the cornstarch-fed rats, but did not affect the enlarged cecum in the lactose-fed rats. The small gut length was not altered by chlortetracycline, but the length was increased by the lactose diet (with or without chlortetracycline) compared to the cornstarch diet without chlortetracycline.