Summary.The digestive physiology of the germ-free animal has a number of characteristics (cecal hypertrophy, slower small intestine cell renewal, slower gastric emptying and intestinal transit) which distinguish it from that of the conventional animal. If the germ-free model is to be used to determine the role of gastrointestinal microflora in the nutrition of the conventional animal, it is essential to complete the study of these characteristics by data on digestive enzymes in the germ-free. The present paper analyzes these data.There In general, the germ-free animal has some characteristics which should permit better utilization of the diet ingested. Measurements of apparent digestibility do not confirm this hypothesis since results obtained in germ-free and conventional animals of the same species are contradictory.The germ-free animal is certainly a very useful tool for studying the role of gastrointestinal microflora in the nutrition of its host. The large intestine contains the largest bacterial population (1 to 3.10 10 bacteria/g fresh contents) and the greatest number of microbial species in the gut (Ducluzeau and Raibaud, 1975 ;Schaedler, 1973). In some cases, bacteria may efficiently intervene in the digestive utilization of the diet ingested by the animal (R6rat, 1978).However, a number of experiments in the germ-free animal have shown that it cannot be considered simply as a conventional animal, deprived of gastrointestinal microflora, since certain characteristics of its digestive physiology distinguish it from the conventional animal (see reviews by Gordon et al.,1966 ;Combe et al., 1976). A knowledge of these characteristics is essential when determining the part due to bacteria in the digestion of an ingested diet.The germ-free state in rodents and lagormorphs leads to a substantial increase in cecal sac contents and size (Glimstedt, 1936 ;Wostmann and Bruckner-Kardoss, 1959 ;Wostmann, Bruckner-Kardoss and Knight, 1968 ;Pleasants, 1959 (Guenet et al., 1970). In the chicken, the rate of epithelial cell migration is lower in the germ-free than in the conventional state, but the relative differences are greater in the lower than in the upper intestine (Rolls, Turvey and Coates, 1978).Gastric emptying and small intestinal transit of the ingested food were found to be slower in the germ-free than in the conventional state. Six hours after a labelled test-meal, the cecum of the germ-free mouse retained a greater percentage of radioactivity than the cecum of the conventional animal, and the passage of the marker into the feces was slower (Abrams and Bishop, 1967). Gastrointestinal transit was also slower in the germ-free than in the conventional rat (Sacquet, Garnier and Raibaud, 1970 ;Riottot et al., 1980), and tended to be longer in germ-free rats fed irradiated diets than in those fed autoclaved diets (Riottot et al.,1980). The aim of the present review is to complete our knowledge of the characteristics of germ-free animal digestive physiology by analyzing data on digestive enzymes. These enzymes (p...