Amounts of intestinal microflorae in relation to colon carcinogenesis. An experimental study.

Quantitative analysis of intestinal microflorae in the diverted and feces-containing portions of the colon after performing an ascendo-descendostomy Roux en Y in Wistar-Lewis rats, the colonic portion from the ascending colon to the midportion of the descending colon being diverted from the fecal stream, disclosed a drastic decrease in the total amount of the intestinal microflora as well as most anaerobic microflorae in the diverted portion of the colon where the amount of the colonic content was extremely reduced. This diverted segment was least susceptible of developing macroscopical epithelial neoplasia after exposure to a carcinogen, MNNG, sufficient in amount to evoke multiple large neoplasia in the ordinary colon, although microscopical intramucosal neoplastic foci were induced there. Thus the existence of the intestinal content was essential for the process of promotion in experimental colonic carcinogenesis. The close parallelism between amounts of intestinal content and amounts of intestinal microflorae, especially anaerobic ones, suggested the roles of anaerobic microflorae in colonic carcinogenesis.