Savage D C, Dubos R
J Exp Med. 1968 Jul 1;128(1):97-110. doi: 10.1084/jem.128.1.97.
Addition of penicillin, Terramycin, or kanamycin to the drinking water of adult mice rapidly induced in them an enlargement of the cecum. In all animals, this occurred within 12 hr after the beginning of drug administration-the effect being most pronounced with penicillin. The cecums remained enlarged and generally continued to increase in size as long as the antibacterial drugs were administered. The increase in wet weight of the cecums was due primarily to an accumulation of water in the lumens during the first 24-48 hr of drug administration. At that time, there were no detectable histological changes in any case, but the bacteriological picture differed from drug to drug. The cecums were free of bacteria in animals receiving penicillin, fusiform-shaped bacteria and bacteroides were present in those receiving Terramycin, and lactobacilli and bacteroides in those receiving kanamycin. After the initial 48 hr, an abundant and complex secondary microflora developed in all treated animals, its composition being characteristic for each type of antibacterial drug. When penicillin was administered for 2 wk, the cecal weights and microbial populations did not return to normal levels for over 14 days after discontinuance of the drug. This recovery period could be shortened to 10 days by giving the mice food contaminated with cecal homogenates prepared from normal animals. A period of 7 or 8 days was required for the cecal weights and microflora to reach normal levels when the administration of penicillin lasted only 24 hr; this period could not be shortened by giving the animals contaminated food. The effects of drugs on the size and bacterial contents of the cecum have been discussed in the light of earlier findings concerning the characteristics of the huge cecums uniformly found in germfree mice. Taken together, these observations support the hypothesis that certain elements of the intestinal microflora-not yet completely identified-play an essential role in maintaining the integrity of the water-transport mechanism in the intestinal epithelium.
在成年小鼠的饮用水中添加青霉素、土霉素或卡那霉素，会迅速导致它们的盲肠肿大。在所有动物中，这种情况在给药开始后的12小时内就会出现——青霉素的效果最为明显。只要给予抗菌药物，盲肠就会一直肿大，并且通常会继续增大。给药后的最初24至48小时内，盲肠湿重的增加主要是由于肠腔内积水所致。此时，无论哪种情况都未检测到组织学变化，但细菌学情况因药物而异。接受青霉素的动物盲肠中没有细菌，接受土霉素的动物盲肠中有梭形菌和拟杆菌，接受卡那霉素的动物盲肠中有乳酸杆菌和拟杆菌。在最初的48小时后，所有接受治疗的动物体内都出现了丰富而复杂的继发性微生物群落，其组成因每种抗菌药物而异。当给予青霉素2周时，停药后超过14天盲肠重量和微生物数量才恢复到正常水平。通过给小鼠喂食被正常动物盲肠匀浆污染的食物，这个恢复期可以缩短到10天。当青霉素给药仅持续24小时时，盲肠重量和微生物群落需要7至8天才能达到正常水平；给动物喂食污染食物并不能缩短这个时间。根据早期关于无菌小鼠中普遍存在的巨大盲肠特征的研究结果，讨论了药物对盲肠大小和细菌含量的影响。综合这些观察结果支持这样一种假设，即肠道微生物群落中某些尚未完全确定的成分在维持肠上皮水转运机制的完整性方面起着至关重要的作用。
