Relation of the Indigenous Flora of the Small Intestine of the Rat to Post-Irradiation Bacteremia

Abstract

There is general agreement that bacteremia occurs as one sequel to midlethal doses of whole body x-irradiation (Warren and Whipple, 1923;

ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITHLACTOBACILLUS ACIDOPHILUS

“…Characteristics of intestinal lactobacilli. Strains of lactobacilli isolated from hamster, mouse, and human sources showed the same cultural characteristics as those previously reported for lactobacilli isolated from intestine of the rat (Vincent et al, 1955). They showed no growth at 20 C but vigorous growth at 45 C, and fermented salicin and cellobiose but not mannitol (Wheater, 1955).…”

“…It is evident that lactocidin is not hydrogen peroxide or lactic acid from its method of purification. Indeed, this had been well demonstrated prior to attempts at purification (Vincent et al, 1955). For example, it was demonstrated that treatment of active agar flats with catalase prior to streak assay did not alter assay results.…”

“…In earlier studies, evidence was obtained for the existence of antagonism in vivo between intestinal lactobacilli and certain of the enteric bacteria responsible for postirradiation infections in the rat and mouse (Vincent et al, 1955;Haley et al, 1957). In experiments in vitro, definite inhibition of growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was observed when these organisms were streaked on liver veal agar plates heavily grown with lactobacilli isolated from rat intestine (Vincent et al, 1955).…”

“…smegmatis (ATCC 10143), Mycobacterium phlei (ATCC 10142), and L. acidophilus (ATCC 4357) were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection. Intestinal lactobacilli from species of laboratory animals were isolated by procedures described earlier (Vincent et al, 1955). Trichophyton gypseum, Microsporum lanosum, and Penicillium notatum were strains of unknown origin carried in the laboratory.…”

Health and nutritional benefits from lactic acid bacteria

“…For this reason this discussion will focus on these organisms, primarily L, acidophilus. The orsanisms have been shown to be both preventative and therapeutic in controlling intestinal infections throush the administration of milk contain, ins one or both of the organisms [20][21][22][23][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. There have also been some studies that indicated that neither the lactobacilli nor the bifidobacteria have an effect on intestinal infections [36][37][38].…”