Effect of Lactobacilli on Urinary Indican Excretion in Gnotobiotic Rats and in Man

Abstract

The effect of Lactobacillus species on urinary indican excretion in two types of gnotobiotic rats (GBH-9 and GB-S) and in man was studied. L. salivarius, L. plantarum and L. casei colonized in the cecum and colon of both types of rats at levels of 10 7 to 10 8 per gram of contents following one-dose oral administratron and caused a significant reduction in urinary indican excretion, whereas two strains of L. acidophilus which colonized at low levels (10 4 to 10 5 jg) did not reduce indican excretion. Daily feeding of Lactobacillus concentrates caused a further significant reduction in indican excretion which was corrected by tryptophan intake, even in the case of L. acidophiius. There was a clear relationship between fecal lactobacillus counts and urinary indican. A significant reduction of indican secretion was obtained only when the fecal counts of lactobacilli exceeded 10 7 . 4 jg in rats.L. casei also had an effect in man, reducing urinary excretion of indican and pcresol. Reduction in indican excretion seems to be accompanied by decreasing fecal tryptophanase activity in rats and man. A negative correlation was also obtained between fecal resident lactobacilli and urinary indican in man (r= -0.532, n=28, p<O.OI). Subjects with lactobacilli at a level of 10 6 jg or more excreted less indican than those harboring the bacteria at levels below 10 5 jg.Some urinary metabolites originating from amino acids have been considered to represent some conditions of the intestinal environment. Bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine (17, 18), protein malabsorption (12) and high intake of beef (13) are known to alter bacterial metabolic activities and sometimes bacterial population levels, and to cause excretion of excessive urinary indoxylsulphate (indican), phenols and amines as bacterial catabolites of tryptophan, tyrosine, lysine or histidine in man and rats. In addition, Sheldon and Stephen demonstrated mutagenic urine from all patients with cirrhosis and suggested that the mutagenic compounds in urine might be those produced by the intestinal flora, but which are normally detoxified by hepatic biotransformation (23). Therefore we have considerable interest in the regulation of the intestinal environment from the viewpoint of the urinary toxic amino acid metabolites which are produced mainly by intestinal bacteria.Many attempts have been made to alter or maintain a proper microbial bal-101

Pre-, Pro-, and Synbiotics: Do They Have a Role in Reducing Uremic Toxins? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…There was one randomised placebo-controlled trial [31], four randomised placebo-controlled crossover studies [18, 28–30], three nonrandomised placebo-controlled experimental trials [24, 25, 33], two interrupted time series without a parallel control group [26, 36], and 9 case series [19–23, 27, 32, 34, 35]. …”

“…Four out of the seven studies looking at PCS postintervention were included in the meta-analysis [25, 28–30] with the exclusion of one study in the HD population [35] and two that did not measure urinary PCS in mg/day [26, 27]. …”

“…Five of the six studies, not included in the meta-analysis, found a reduction in either PC and/or IS following probiotic intervention [26, 27, 33–35]. Tohyama et al [26] also investigated mechanistic changes in gut activity and found a strong correlation ( r = 0.93) between fecal tryptophanase activity and urinary IS, which also decreased postintervention.…”

“…Tohyama et al [26] also investigated mechanistic changes in gut activity and found a strong correlation ( r = 0.93) between fecal tryptophanase activity and urinary IS, which also decreased postintervention. Hida et al [35] investigated change in fecal flora which showed a significant decrease in the number of enterobacteria; however, no change in total number of bacteria was observed.…”

Effect of Depolymerized Pyrodextrin on Human Intestinal Flora

“…L. casei has been reported, as well as an increasing number of intestinal bifidobacteria (15), to reduce urinary indican, phenol and p-cresol (16), and to facilitate immunopotentiation (17). Fructooligosaccharide and the indigestible portion of DPD-I were not fermented by L. casei.…”