Effects of Intestinal Micro-Organisms on Fluid and Electrolyte Transport in the Jejunum of the Rat

Abstract

Culture filtrates of micro-organisms isolated from the upper intestinal secretions of malnourished children and grown in pure culture impaired the intestinal absorption of water and electrolytes in live rats. Decreased net movement out of the intestinal lumen, or actual secretion of water, Na or K into the intestinal lumen, was found with culture filtrates of single isolates of Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli 055, E. coli B7A, Shigella sonnei, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Candida albicans and C. tropicalis. These organisms contaminate upper intestinal secretions in malnourished children and it is suggested that the effects observed in these experiments might be relevant to the production of the diarrhea that is a dominant clinical feature of childhood malnutrition.