An in vivo study was carried on rats to see the influence of arsenic on aerobic gut flora. A significant inhibition of gut flora was observed after 2 weeks of administration of arsenic (1 mg/L) ad libitum with a decrease in stool arsenic level and increase in liver arsenic level. However, this inhibitory effect of arsenic on gut flora was not observed in presence of vitamin E (1 mg/day) or selenium (0.4 µg/day). Pretreatment with streptomycin (500 mg twice daily) showed similar results. Rats that received folic acid (200 µg/day) showed inhibition of gut floral count but there were decreased liver arsenic level.

No abstract

No abstract

Rats treated with arsenic (1mg/L) in drinking ad libitum an increase in liver tissue arsenic was observed when orally pretreated with streptomycin (500mg twice daily). Inhibition of gut flora was confirmed by microscopic examination of stool. Control group showed a mean gut-bacterial count of 7.13-7.26×108cfu/g dry weight of stool, when administered with streptomycin orally (500mg twice daily) gut-bacterial count was not countable on day 7. Liver tissue arsenic level increased to 5.78 mg/g of liver tissue compared to that of the control group of 3.33mg/g of liver tissue. A decrease in gut-bacterial count of 2.83×108 cfu/g dry weight of stool was observed on day 14 in rats that were not pretreated with streptomycin but received only arsenic (1mg/L) in drinking water ad libitum throughout the study period. Increase in liver arsenic level in this group was almost similar to that of streptomycin pretreated rats. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jdmc.v22i1.15624 J Dhaka Medical College, Vol. 22, No. 1, April, 2013, Page 51-54