The relationship between the host and its intestinal microflora

Abstract

During the past decade, there has been an increased interest in the microflora of the gut and its effects on the host organism. Several factors have contributed to this development. These include more sophisticated techniques for isolating and enumerating the anaerobic bacteria, the availability of germ-free and pathogenfree animals as experimental models, use of antibiotics with selective action, and better understanding of the metabolism of gut micro-organisms.Much of the preliminary work has been done in animal models, and recent work in man indicates that similar situations exist in the two systems. Through the use of experimental models, it has been shown that the gastro-intestinal flora (I) affects the growth and development of the animal, ( 2 ) influences the nutritional requirements, (3) affects the morphogenesis of the gastro-intestinal tract, (4) modifies, through metabolic activity, both endogenous and exogenous substances presented to the gastro-intestinal tract and ( 5 ) plays an important role in preventing other 'foreign' organisms from becoming established in the gut.One can now approach with greater confidence the symbiotic and parasitic aspects of the relationship between the gut flora and the host animal.

Biphasic assembly of the murine intestinal microbiota during early development

“…Site-specific selective factors exert pressure during development, and divergence of communities occurs in each body location. Previous work based on cultivable bacteria in mice (Schadler, 1973) has shown an initial colonization by Lactobacilli , followed by coliforms, and finally by obligate anaerobes. In the present study, there was an initial bacterial bloom of Streptococcus immediately after birth, which decreased after day 3 to be replaced by Lactobacillus species that are facultative anaerobes that ferment milk lactose and casein, and produce lactic acid (Kunji et al, 1996; Jiang and Savaiano, 1997; Angelakis et al, 2012).…”

The human microbiome: at the interface of health and disease

“…The eruption of teeth is responsible for major successions in the oral microbiota 66,67 , suggesting that succession may be a general property of microbiome dynamics in humans. In mice, this clearly occurs in the GI tract 68 . Exposure (or not) to environmental microbes is another important but highly variable reservoir for the resident microbiota.…”

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the World

“…In contrast, an ideal, stabilized microbiota allows optimum growth performance (Schaedler 1973). As reviewed by Windisch et al (2008), literature depicting the anti-microbial role of PFAs is ample.…”