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Influence of Dietary Aureomycin and Carbohydrate on Growth, Intestinal Microflora and Vitamin B₁₂ Synthesis of the Rat^{1, 2,}

Two Figures

Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

1. Weanling rats fed a purified diet deficient in vitamin B₁₂ grew faster with dextrin as the sole dietary carbohydrate than with sucrose. The incorporation of aureomycin (100 p.p.m.) in these rations stimulated growth, even when the rations were fortified with vitamin B₁₂ (25 µg/kg).

2. The feeding of aureomycin rapidly induced changes in the intestinal microflora which were influenced to a marked degree by the type of dietary carbohydrate (sucrose or dextrin). The bacteria affected were, primarily, Proteus spp., Lactobacillus spp., Clostridium perfringens, enterococci, coliforms and aureomycin-resistant types.

3. The concentration of "free" vitamin B₁₂ was significantly greater in the intestines of the rats reared on aureomycin-containing diets than in those of animals fed the control ration. Furthermore, a high correlation, most marked in those rats fed rations devoid of B₁₂, was noted between the growth response and the intestinal concentration of "free" B₁₂.

4. The concentration of B₁₂ in the kidney or liver was increased by fortification of the diet with B₁₂ but not by supplementation with aureomycin.

² Presented in part before the 52nd General Meeting, Society of American Bacteriologists, Boston, Massachusetts, 1952.

³ A portion of a thesis to be presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. Present address: Department of Biology, University of Houston, Texas.

Manuscript received 18 May 1953.