Fasting induces a biphasic adaptive metabolic response in murine small intestine

Table 1 Body and organ weights and morphometrical measurements in fed and 72 h fasted mice

	fed	72 h fasting
body weight (g)	27.8 ± 0.9	18.9 ± 0.5*
intestinal wet weight (g)	1.2 ± 0.1	0.6 ± 0.1*
villus height (μm)	368 ± 63	353 ± 54
CPS-positive volume fraction (%)	72.2 ± 3.4	71.0 ± 0.5
αSMA-positive volume fraction (%)	24.6 ± 1.1	24.0 ± 3.0
PCNA volume fraction (%)	18.8 ± 1.4	20.6 ± 1.0
Alcian blue-positive cells^	68.7 ± 6.3	69.0 ± 11.1
caspase 3-positive cells^	56.0 ± 7.2	91.8 ± 14.9*
total protein content of the intestine^# (mg/g)	20.9 ± 2.2	16.8 ± 2.0*

Data are shown as average ± SEM. There are no significant differences between the experimental groups with regard to villus height, CPS-, αSMA- and PCNA-positive volume fraction, and number of Alcian-blue positive cells. Body and organ weight, caspase 3-positive cells, and total protein content differed significantly (*, P < 0.01). ^: for caspase 3- and Alcian blue-positive cells, the numbers are given per mm². ^#: total protein content of the gut was available for fed and 48 h-fasted animals only.