Summary. Rats were trained to a single daily meal of 15 g between 6 and 9 a.m. In fact, they only ingested an average of 14.4 g with 90 % during the first hour. This value defined the average volumic capacity of the full stomach of our rats. Body weight stabilized rapidly at 402 ± 2 g ; this value was obtained before with the same daily intake when the diet was available during the day according to the classical spontaneous rhythm. The restriction used did not alter the number of fecal pellets. On the other hand, coprophagy was reduced (29 % of total pellets instead of 41 %). The rhythm of fecal elimination was the same in restricted and control rats. These results suggested the role of light variation as a fecal elimination synchronizer, a role imputed previously to dietary intake. Lastly, rat gastric emptying occurred according to a monoexponential function whose t1/ Z was around 4.5 hours.We also studied the cholesterol system using the isotopic equilibrium method. Mean daily flow values of different cholesterol turnover processes were nearly the same as those of ad libitum-fed rats, but circadian variations of cholesterol synthesis were more marked.Introduction.