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The Effects of Small Intestinal Colonization by Fecal and Colonic Bacteria on Intestinal Function in Rats

Department of Pediatrics, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, New York 11030 and the Department of Pediatrics, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York 10021

The effects of colonic and fecal bacterial proliferation on jejunal function were studied in normal rats and in low-germ rats after intraperitoneal injections of mecamylamine HCl. Jejunal bacteriology, bile salts, ultrastructure, and transport capacity were assessed. Normal rats given mecamylamine for 3 days had increased anaerobic bacteria in the intestinal fluid, and had high concentrations of deconjugated bile salts in the intraluminal contents. Jejunal bacteria were lodged between microvilli without penetrating the cell cytoplasm. However, there was focal cellular damage, including fused microvilli, dilated endoplasmic reticulum, and secondary lysosomes. In the mecamylamine treated normal rats intestinal glucose transport was reduced with an alteration compatible with noncompetitive inhibition. The absorption rates of galactose, fructose, 3-0-methyl-D-glucose, tyrosine, Na, and K were also decreased. In contrast, low-germ mecamylamine-treated rats showed no evidence of either increased anaerobic bacterial proliferation or deconjugation of bile salts, and had none of the fine structural alterations seen in regularly raised rats. Also, the transport of carbohydrates was unaltered. The findings suggest that non-invasive enteric proliferation of colonic and fecal bacterial anaerobes in rats may be associated with deconjugation of bile salts, ultrastructural alterations of the intestinal epithelial cells, and a diminished jejunal transport capacity of carbohydrates and other solutes.

KEY WORDS: • diarrhea • small intestinal function • bile salts • jejunal bacterial proliferation • enteric bacteria • anaerobes

¹ Address reprint requests to Fima Lifshitz, M.D., Department of Pediatrics, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, New York 11030.

² Present address: Department of Biology, Kings College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 18702.

³ Present address: Hospital de Pediatria, Centro Medico Nacional, I.M.S.S., Mexico City D. F., Mexico.

Manuscript received 22 February 1978.