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6 . 2015

Assessment of the impact of vitamin and dietary fiber content in the diet on the characteristics of protective colon microbiota populations of rats

Abstract

The content of lactobacilli and enterobacteria in the experiment in rats with varying levels of vitamins and dietary fiber was studied. The study was performed on 48 male weanling Wistar rats randomized into 8 groups, with the creation of vitamin deficiency (30 d.) and its further compensation (5 d.). Vitamin content in the semisynthetic diet in rats of the control group N 1 corresponded to 100% of a daily adequate intake. In the similar composition of the diet of the control group N 2 wheat bran was added in amount of 5% of the weight of the diet. In groups N 3–8 rats received a diet with the reduced amount of vitamin mixture by 5 times (20% of the adequate intake) and the total exclusion of tocopherol, thiamine and riboflavin from the mixture. The wheat bran (5% of diet mass) was added to the diets in Groups N 4, 6, 8. At the stage of compensation of deficiency rats were fed with the diets with increased content of vitamin mixture: Group 5–6 to 80% 7–8 to 200% (100 and 220% of the adequate intake, respectively), and the groups N 3–4 continued to receive deficient diet with or without wheat bran until the end of the experiment. After 35 days rats were anesthetized with ether, decapitated, necropsied and the cecum segments were selected for quantitative microbiological analysis of its contents.

It has been shown that the addition of wheat bran to vitamin deficient diet lead to the reduction of the manifestation of physical sign of hypovitaminosis. It also eliminated the differences in the integrated index of growth and development of rats in comparison with the group without vitamin deficiency. It was found that the vitamin deficiency in the diet, regardless of the presence or absence of wheat bran, led to a significant reduction of the number of lactobacilli in the intestinal contents, but almost did not affect the number of normal and opportunistic pathogenic enterobacteria. The compensation of deficiency during 5 days lead to the increased number of lactobacilli, but the physiological levels and levels in control animals it reached only in rats received 220% of the vitamins with the addition of wheat bran. In the lactobacilli population in all rats received different doses of vitamins (including reduced to 20%), regardless of the presence of wheat bran, prevailing culturable representatives were 3 kinds of Lactobacillus spp. – acidophilus, fermentum, paracasei. These species showed stable presence in the intestine even in conditions of prolonged vitamin deficiency (35 days).

L. acidophilus was the dominated lactoflora representative in all rats, its’ content was average 91.7% of all culturable lactobacilli. With less constancy and in lower amounts were detected L. plantarum and representatives of coccal flora (Leuconostoc lactis, Lactococcus lactis).

Keywords:intestinal microbiota, lactobacilli, alimentary polyhypovitaminosis, dietary fiber, rats

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CHIEF EDITOR
CHIEF EDITOR
Viktor A. Tutelyan
Full Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Scientific Director of the Federal Research Centre of Nutrition, Biotechnology and Food Safety (Moscow, Russia)

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