Development of an animal model to investigate postprandial metabolism

The postprandial period comprises the first hours after the intake of a meal, when nutrients are being absorbed in the small intestine. In this timeframe, plasma levels of dietary compounds, intermediates of primary metabolism and signalling molecules undergo rapid changes and trigger an acute inflammatory response. Despite being scarcely understood, postprandial inflammation has been an active topic of research in the last decade, leading to the understanding that meal composition plays a role in this phenomenon which is thought to be proportional to the calories content of the ingested food. It is also important to note that although postprandial inflammation happens under normal physiological circumstances, it can be associated to chronic diseases such as insulin resistance and obesity. Changes in metabolite concentrations and inflammatory markers are prone to a high degree of variability amongst individuals, which is the result of numerous variables involved in the digestion, absorption and metabolism of dietary compounds. Understanding the relationship between plasma metabolite changes in the hours following the intake of a meal and the development of postprandial inflammation, as well as mapping the natural interindividual variability is key to understand how these changes are linked to health and disease.