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Effect of Microorganisms upon Zinc Metabolism Using Germfree and Conventional Rats¹

Trace Element Research Laboratory, Veterans Administration Hospital, Washington, D. C. 20422 and Laboratory of Nutrition and Endocrinology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

This study was designed to elucidate the effect of gastrointestinal microorganisms upon zinc metabolism. Rats free of microorganisms (germfree) served as the principal experimental model. Measurements for assessing zinc metabolism included weight gain, degree of alopecia and dermatitis, and plasma and tissue zinc concentration. When germfree and conventional controls were fed the same zinc-deficient diet the above parameters of zinc metabolism indicated that the germfree animals had a lower dietary zinc requirement. In addition, Streptococcus sp. and/or Staphylococcus epidermidis organisms were identified as affecting zinc metabolism. The data suggest that the presence of certain microorganisms results in an increased dietary zinc requirement. Thus, where the total body burden of microorganisms is altered the dietary zinc requirement may be affected.

KEY WORDS: • zinc • metabolism • microorganisms • germfree • dietary requirement

¹ Some of these data were presented at the meeting of the American Institute of Nutrition, April 12–17, 1971, Chicago, Illinois, and at the Western Hemisphere Congress, August 29 – September 2, 1971, Bal Harbour, Florida.

Manuscript received 13 December 1971.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. C. Smith Jr., E. G. McDaniel, F. F. Fan, and J. A. Halsted Zinc: A Trace Element Essential in Vitamin A Metabolism Science, September 7, 1973; 181(4103): 954 - 955. [Abstract] [PDF]