%0 Journal Article %T Dose-Response Relationship between Dietary Polyphenols from Acorns and Parotid Gland Hypertrophy in Pigs %A Maria Grazia Cappai %A Petra Wolf %A Walter Pinna %A Josef Kamphues %J Food and Nutrition Sciences %P 1261-1268 %@ 2157-9458 %D 2012 %I Scientific Research Publishing %R 10.4236/fns.2012.39166 %X Proline contents of parotid glands (PG) in pigs constantly increase after the inclusion of different amounts of ripe hulled acorns in the diet providing high polyphenols levels. The dose-response relationship was estimated on natural hydrolizable tannins (expressed as tannic acid equivalent TAE) amounts of 25.8 to 36.1 g TAE/kg DM in experimental diets. Macroscopic and histological morphometry of parotid glands greatly varied according to feed intake and dosages of TAE ingested. The PG response (hypertrophy grade) on acorns¡¯ tannins content in the diet was positively correlated (R2 = 0.748): the response to the protein precipitating activity (PPA) of tannins consisted of a functional parotidomegaly (hypertrophy), 1.34 up to 3.55 folds than control PGs, following an oral dosage 0.596 up 1.72 TAE g¡¤kg body weight¡¤d-1 respectively, after one week exposure. %K Acorns %K Parotid Gland %K Polyphenols %K Hypertrophy %K Proline %K Secretory Response %U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=22299