Effect of the antiprotozoal agent metronidazole (Flagyl) on absorptive and digestive functions of the rat intestine.

Metronidazole (Flagyl), an antibiotic commonly used in treating intestinal infections, when administered orally at a dose level of 100 mg/kg body weight daily for 7 days to rats brought about a significant elevation of the uptake of end-product nutrients like D-glucose, L-alanine, L-aspartic acid and L-leucine in the intestinal segments. Brush border membrane-bound hydrolytic enzymes, i.e. sucrase, lactase, maltase, alkaline phosphatase and leucine aminopeptidase levels, were also elevated. Substrate kinetic analysis of the uptake of nutrients as well as the enzymes indicated that the drug increased the maximum of apparent initial velocity, while the substrate affinity constants did not change. Studies of the temperature-dependent parameters of the nutrient uptake and the enzyme activity revealed that metronidazole did not induce any shift in the transition temperature (T(o)) for the uptake but the energy of activation (Ea) was reduced in all the cases except those of maltase and leucine aminopeptidase, which registered an increase in Ea and a marginal shift in T(o), respectively. A significant elevation was seen in the levels of membrane cholesterol, phospholipid, ganglioside and plasmalogen in metronidazole-treated animals, while triglycerides and the non-esterified fatty acids remained unaffected. The effects produced by metronidazole treatment persisted in the animals, which were allowed a recovery period of 7 days after the drug regimen.