Focusing on the gastrointestinal tract, this book offers developmental data on piglets, data on amino acid metabolism, nutritional and physiological functions of amino acids, signaling, research methodology and the pig as model for the study of human diseases.

This book provides an overview of the metabolism of dietary compounds by the intestinal microbiota, and on the consequences of such metabolic activity on host metabolism and physiological functions; both in intestinal and peripheral tissues.Over the last years, our understanding of the causal links between microbiota metabolic activity towards dietary and endogenous substrates and human health status has evolved extensively. In this context, the book starts with a comprehensive introduction devoted to the physiological and metabolic functions of the intestinal epithelium, followed by a part...