Validamycin A (validamycin A 81%) and penicillin G were administered to 4-week-old male mice for 14 to 15 days. Mice were givenad libitumdrinking water containing 50g/l of validamycin A or 0.3g/l of penicillin G. The mean dosages of validamycin A and penicillin G were calculated from water intake as 400 mg/mouse/day and 2.4 mg/mouse/day, respectively. (1) No difference was seen in the body-weight gain and water intake between control and each treated group. No abnormality was recognized in the behaviour or appearance of the mice, except for the excretion of soft feces from the mice treated with either antibiotics. (2) No difference was seen in the fecal microflora between control and validamycin A-treated groups. However, the numbers of microorganisms in the feces of mice treated with penicillin G were descreased on the first day of treatment. Thereafter, bacteroides and lactobacilli were disappeared, while the numbers of Enterobacteriaceae and streptococci were markedly increased. (3) The wet weight of the cecum of mice treated with validamycin A and penicillin G was significantly increased on the first to the 15th day of treatment. The dry weight of the cecum with contents was not different from that of control mice. The increased wet weight of the cecum of the treated mice was largely accounted for the rise of water contents. (4) In mice treated with validamycin A and penicillin G, histological observation of the cecum did not indicated any significant abnormality of the mucosal layer, lamina propria and submucosal layer, although some partial relaxation of the inner circular muscle was observed. Histo-bacteriological examination showed a colonization of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in the lamina propria and submucosal layer of the cecum of the mice treated with both antibiotics. However, the numbers of Gram-negative tapered rods-fusiform bacteria-were decreased and disappeared in validamycin A-treated mice and in penicillin G-treated mice, respectively. (5) It is presumed that the swelling and enlargement of the cecum in mice treated with validamycin A was caused by the reduced population of fusiform bacteria in the same fashion as demonstrated in the case of penicillin G.

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Bilateral nostrils of a mouse were surgically obstructed under ether anaesthesia. Right after the operation, respiratory conditions of mice, respiration rates, heart rates, blood pressure etc., became abnormal. The respiration became deep and late, and the mice died within a few days. Also abnormal aerophagy, which was detectable with expansion of the abdomen, was induced soon after the operation and persisted until the mouse died. When mice were tracheotomized before the operation described above, the phenomena were never observed.

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The literature in this bibliography consists of the available technical reports concerning germfree mammalian and avian research classified as follows (Abstracts and brief descriptions with no data were excluded) : 1. Isolators, 2. Diets, 3. Sterilization, 4. Obtaining germfree infants and hand-rearing, 5. Animal care, management and transportation, 6. Experimental method, 7. Sterility tests and contamination, 8. Operating rooms and patient isolators. The references either missing or after 1974 will be published in this journals in a series of supplements.

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