Stress-induced visceral analgesia assessed non-invasively in rats is enhanced by prebiotic diet

Figure 5 Defecation induced by repeated water avoidance stress in rats fed either standard or 4% enzyme-treated rice fiber prebiotic diet. A: Time-course of hourly defecation expressed as number/15 min per 100 g of body weight for 0-15 min and 15-60 min time periods over the 10 d of 1-h water avoidance stress (WAS). ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01 vs standard diet interval 0-15 min; ^cP < 0.05, ^dP < 0.01 vs enzyme-treated rice fiber (ERF) diet interval 0-15 min; ^eP < 0.05, ^fP < 0.01 vs standard diet interval 0-15 min; 2-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc test; B: Mean daily defecation expressed as number/15 min/100 g of body weight for 0-15 min and 15-60 min intervals. ^aP < 0.05 vs control diet same time interval; unpaired student t test. Data are expressed as mean ± SE, n as indicated in parenthesis for each group. FPO: Fecal pellet output.