More Bowel Bacteria Found in Digestive Diseases

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MEDLINEplus: More Bowel Bacteria Found in Digestive Diseases

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Tuesday, April 02, 2002 6:45 PM

More Bowel Bacteria Found in Digestive

Diseases.htm

 

 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_6865.html

 

 

More Bowel Bacteria Found in Digestive Diseases

Reuters

 

Friday, March 29, 2002

 

 

By Karla Gale

 

NEW YORK, Mar 29 (Reuters Health) - People with inflamed bowels have more

bacteria in their colons than healthy individuals, and the amount of bacteria

increases with the severity of disease, according to the results of a study.

 

Little is known about the bacteria that interact with the mucosal lining of the

intestines, the researchers note. To investigate, they studied the bacterial

content--or flora--of colon tissue samples from 305 patients with bowel

inflammation and 40 healthy individuals. Patients with inflammation included 28

with colitis that improved within 2 months, 104 with indeterminate colitis, 119

patients with ulcerative colitis, and 54 with Crohn's disease.

 

Colitis is a general term for inflammation of the colon. Ulcerative colitis and

Crohn's disease, known collectively as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are

more serious, chronic conditions.

 

Dr. Alexander Swidsinski of Charite Humboldt Universitat in Berlin, Germany, and

colleagues tested the biopsied tissue for the presence of bacteria. They found

that the concentration of mucosal bacteria increased progressively with the

severity of illness. Concentrations were highest in those with Crohn's disease.

The type of bacteria found did not differ significantly among the groups.

 

" Surprisingly, concentrations of mucosal bacteria were higher in non-inflamed

than inflamed mucosa, " the investigators note in a recent issue of the journal

Gastroenterology.

 

The ability to prevent bacteria in feces from closely contacting the epithelial

surface, or lining, of the colon is disturbed in patients with IBD primarily due

to local inflammatory changes, the researchers conclude. The findings suggest

the patient's response to the bacteria, rather than the infectious agent itself,

is responsible, they add.

 

Dr. Jonathan Braun of the University of California, Los Angeles School of

Medicine, suggests in an accompanying editorial that the inflammatory disorder

appears to enhance the ability of bacteria to adhere to epithelial cells.

 

In an interview with Reuters Health, Braun theorized that bacterial

concentrations are lower over areas of inflammation because those epithelia have

been sloughed off, resulting in fewer binding sites for bacteria.

 

Overall, however, " people with this disease may be colonized with bacteria that

are better at binding to and invading epithelial surfaces, " he said. " Another

idea is that structures onto which bacteria bind may be more highly expressed in

people with these diseases. "

 

The implication, he added, is that more microbial binding puts individuals at

risk for the disease.

 

Braun said the new findings demonstrate " a greater need for understanding the

details of bacterial biology in the gut and a level of interaction between the

gut bacteria and the lining of the intestine that we previously hadn't

appreciated. "

 

More detailed understanding will help clinicians assess and treat this category

of intestinal diseases, he added.

 

SOURCE: Gastroenterology 2002;122:44-54, 228-230.

 

 

 

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