ARS | Publication request: LACTOBACILLUS REUTERI AND INTESTINAL INTEGRITY

Submitted to: International Symposium of Gnotobiology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 20, 1999
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Rodent models have helped to demonstrate that Lactobacillus reuteri plays a central role in maintenance of intestinal integrity. For example, rat models of colitis (induced by acetic acid or methotrexate) and acute liver failure have been used to show that L. reuteri improves intestinal epithelial permeability, decreases bacterial translocation, and decreases colonization by certain intestinal pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract. The information in this presentation deals with L. reuteri host protection from two pathogens: Salmonella typhimurium or Cryptosporidium parvum. BALB/c mice colonized with L. reuteri were challenged with S. typhimurium. L. reuteri significantly reduced mortality and decreased S. typhimurium translocation and gut epithelium damage. In an inflammatory bowel disease model usig gnotobiotic TCR-alpha deficient mice, fewer C. parvum were detected in ileal and cecal sections from L. reuteri-colonized mice than were detected in sections from mice not receiving L. reuteri (7 weeks post-crypto challenge). Inflammatory and hyperplastic cecal lesions due to C. parvum infection were also diminished by L. reuteri colonization. These results support the role of L. reuten in maintaining intestinal integrity in rodents, similar to effects previously observed in humans, avians, and non-rodent mammals.