Microflora-derived polyamines modulate obstruction-induced colonic mucosal hypertrophy.

Experiments were designed to determine the role of microflora-derived intraluminal polyamines in the colonic mucosal response to obstruction. Sprague-Dawley rats were treated per os with 0.9% NaCl or a combination of nonabsorbable antibiotics prior to the placement of either a sham or complete colonic obstruction. Sixty-six hours after surgery, wet tissue weight, DNA, RNA, and protein content were all increased in the mucosa proximal to the obstruction in NaCl-treated animals; however, DNA content was the only parameter increased after antibiotics. This induction was a purely local effect as neither hyperplasia nor hypertrophy was observed in the ileum or colon distal to the obstruction. In the NaCl-treated animals, mucosal ornithine decarboxylase activity was not induced until 48 h postsurgery, yet mucosal spermidine concentrations were significantly higher as early as 24 h. Intraluminal bacterial lysine, ornithine, and arginine decarboxylase activities were induced by obstruction but were reduced by antibiotic treatment. [14C]putrescine uptake by intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-6) in culture was blocked by the antibiotics employed in this study, but [14C]-lysine transport was relatively unaffected. These data demonstrate that intraluminal polyamines modulate the trophic response of the colonic mucosa after colonic obstruction.