Colonization resistance of the digestive tract of mice during systemic antibiotic treatment

Abstract

SUMMARYDuring systemic treatment of mice with ampicillin or streptomycin, oral contaminations with exogenous bacterial species resulted in an abnormal colonization pattern. The contaminants persisted much longer and in much higher concentrations in the caecum of systemically treated mice than in control animals. Spread of the contaminant into the mesenteric lymph nodes and the spleen was found much more often in the antibiotic treated group. This, however, was only seen when the contaminant was ‘resistant’ to the antibiotic injected. The experiments suggest that the ‘CR-inducing species’ of the microflora live in close contact with the mucosa and therefore could be identical with the anaerobic tapered rods described by Savage & Dubos (1968).

Ecology of Bifidobacterium in the Human Intestinal Flora

“…The protection against colonization is involved in the natural resistance of humans to intestinal infections. van der Waaij et al (28) propose the concept of colonization resistance and emphasize an important role for anaerobes in the maintenance of colonization resistance in the intestine; however, other studies have suggested that facultative gram negative rods are also important in this regard (6). In general, the ratio of nonanaerobes to anaerobes seems to be an indicator of the potential stability of intestinal flora.…”

The effect of three frequently applied antibiotics on the colonization resistance of the digestive tract of mice

“…For these reasons two penicillin derivatives (ampicillin and epicillin) which are frequently used in our hospital as well as an oral cephalosporin (cephradine) were used to investigate the effect of different doses of these antibiotics on the CR of mice. Previous experiments (van der Waaij et al 1971(van der Waaij et al , 1972 have indicated that the mouse provides an ideal experimental model for the study of antimicrobial drugs on the CR. Different doses, increasing from 'low clinical dosage' to extremely high dosages, were used to study at which dose the first signs of a decrease of the CR occurred, or in other words, up to which dose the respective drugs were safethat is do not cause 'bacterial overgrowth'.…”

Rose Hip and Lactobacillus plantarum DSM 9843 Reduce Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in the Mouse Colon

“…3A-B). Lactobacillus is an important part of the intestinal microflora and plays a significant role in colonization resistance (24). It has been shown that certain diseases and stress are associated with reduction of the intestinal Lactobacillus population (25,26) and supplementation with these bacteria improves the overall condition, showed both in experimental and clinical studies (27,28).…”