Enterococcus faecalis BIO-4R (BIO-4R) showed a decreased growth rate in ACY broth as compared with its parental strain, BIO, but both the strains attained a maximal level of viable cell number of about 10
8.5 per ml. In “ feces medium ” BIO-4R reached maximal concentration of about 10
7.4 cells per ml after 24 hr of incubation. When inoculated with
Bacillus subtilis (
natto) in the continuous flow culture, the growth of BIO-4R was fairly enhanced. On the other hand, BIO-4R with
Candida albicans resulted in a marked suppression of C.
albicans. BIO-4R was developed in the intestinal tract of gnotobiotic mice at levels of about 10
8 cells per g feces after oral administration. In the intestine of conventional mice, BIO-4R hardly grows but did moderately in mice which were treated with antibiotics such as streptomycin plus erythro-mycin. When administered orally to piglets, BIO-4R appeared to suffer a decrease in the number of viable cells while passing through the acidic part of the stomach and duodenum, and the BIO-4R may grow again to some extent in the ileum. In calves, BIO-4R was detectable at only low levels in feces after the oral administration. In both piglets and calves, lactic flora such as bifidobacteria, streptococci, and lactobacilli was enhanced, and putrefactive organisms as
Salmonella and yeasts were suppressed by administering with BIO-4R. In humans BIO-4R was able to be detected in stools of all the subjects given more than 10
7 cells of the organism. The dose of over 10
7 cells was required to prevent infants from the incidence of thrush during antibiotic therapy. These results suggest that intestinal flora may interfere with BIO -4R and the BIO-4R would not stably colonize the intestine of human and animals. BIO-4R, however, may multiply to some extent in the intestine in which the normal microbialflora was eliminated.
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