It has been claimed that minerals in clay act mainly as
an antisecretory agent, and thus prevent intestinal damage (Guarino
et al., 2009). Minerals in clay protect the intestinalmucosa by interacting
with the digestive mucus, and they have mucoprotective properties
(More et al., 1987; Rateau et al., 1982). In addition, the large specific
surface area of palygorskite allows it to become distributed over the
surface of the gut mucosa to form a barrier immediately after ingestion.
All the mechanismsmentioned abovemay contribute to the modification
of intestinal permeability and morphology noted in the palygorskite
groups in this study.