Autochthonous intestinal bacterial flora and cholesterol levels in specific pathogen-free swine fed high-lipid and high-sucrose diets.

Graber, C. D. (Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston, Tex.). R. W. Moore, M. Suzuki, W. E. Redmond, R. M. O'Neal, and B. M. Lockhart. Autochthonous intestinal bacterial flora and cholesterol levels in specific pathogen-free swine fed high-lipid and high-sucrose diets. J. Bacteriol. 92:1290-1297. 1966.-Thirty-two specific pathogen-free (SPF) and conventional swine fed high fat, high sugar, and a standard ration were cultured for intestinal flora, and their blood cholesterol levels were measured. The diets, whether sterilized or not sterilized, fed ad libitum or restricted, did not alter bacterial flora greatly or influence blood cholesterol levels. Anaerobes outnumbered aerobes by several logs. Four autochthonous bacteria, lactobacilli, Escherichia coli, enterococci, and gram-variable, nonspore-forming anaerobes (GVNSA; a type of bacteroides), were shown to be constantly present in all animals regardless of dietary conditions. From the duodenum and jejunum of 14 pigs, GVNSA and Bacteroides nigrescens were cultured in rather large numbers, a finding not previously reported in swine or in most other mammals. This finding may have special significance in reference to bile acid and cholesterol metabolism.