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The Role Played by the Gastrointestinal Tract in the Absorption and Excretion of Riboflavin

Department of Anatomy, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Experiments in the rat indicate that following bilateral nephrectomy, intravenously administered riboflavin is rapidly excreted into the small intestine, especially the duodenum. Excretion through the bile plays no important part in the elimination of this vitamin. Destruction of riboflavin proceeds slowly, if at all, in an isolated loop of the duodenum, but quickly in the isolated large intestine. If riboflavin is directly injected into the isolated lower small intestine (jejunum and ileum) it is more rapidly absorbed from this site than it can be destroyed. Whether any destruction occurs in this segment is uncertain but the absorbed vitamin rapidly reappears in the duodenum.

In the complete absence of the intestinal canal and both kidneys the tissues of the rat cannot destroy or eliminate any significant percentage of large doses of intravenously injected riboflavin.