Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024523 (malabsorption)
 7,319 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Anaerobic bacteria predominate in the normal human fecal flora, out-numbering aerobes at least 100 to one. The two most prevalent organisms are Bacteroides fragilis and Bifidobacterium. Ileostomy flora is, on the other hand, chiefly aerobic and the total count is lower (10(8) per ml of fluid, compared to 10(10) per gram for feces). In normal people, small bowel bacterial counts are generally 10(5) per ml or less. The upper small bowel consists primarily of Gram-positive aerobes in small numbers. In the terminal ileum, counts are higher and aerobes and anaerobes are present in equal numbers. In the presence of acute obstruction and certain bowel stasis or other syndromes, the small bowel flora may become relatively profuse and fecal in type. The stomach normally has less than 10(3) organisms per ml but counts are higher in gastric samples with pH above 4.0. Intestinal bacteria are important in such processes as conversion of bilirubin to urobilinogen, supply of vitamin K to the host, defense against infection, bile acid deconjugation and conversion, infections related to the bowel, the malabsorption of blind loop and other bacterial overgrowth syndromes, and hepatic coma.
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PMID:Intestinal bacteria. The role they play in normal physiology, pathologic physiology, and infection. 578 39

Fermentation, the process whereby anaerobic bacteria break down carbohydrates to short-chain (C2-C6) fatty acids (SCFAs), is an important function of the large bowel. SCFAs constitute approximately two-thirds of the colonic anion concentration (70-130 mmol/l), mainly as acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Gastroenterologists have, in spite of these facts, addressed this scientific field surprisingly late, in contrast to veterinarians, for whom the fermentative production of SCFAs has been acknowledged as a principal mechanism of intestinal digestion in plant-eating animals for decades. Interest in the effects of SCFA production on the human organism has been growing rapidly in the last 10 years, because gastrointestinal functions and beneficial effects are associated with these acids. SCFAs are of major importance in the understanding of the physiological function of dietary fibre and their possible role for colonic neoplasia. SCFA production and absorption are closely related to the nourishment of the colonic mucosa and sodium and water absorption, and mechanisms of diarrhoea. Patients with severe malabsorption compensate by the fermentation of otherwise osmotic active saccharides to SCFAs, which are readily absorbed and used as energy fuels in the organism. SCFA production from dietary carbohydrates is a mechanism whereby considerable amounts of calories can be salvaged in short-bowel patients with remaining colonic function if dietary treatment is adjusted. SCFA enemas are a new and promising treatment modality for patients with ulcerative colitis. The effect has been attributed to the oxidation of SCFAs in the colonocytes. An impressive number of papers have described the effects of butyrate on various cell functions, the significance of which is still unknown. Up until now, attention has been related especially to cancer prophylaxis and treatment. Diminished production of SCFAs appears to be involved in antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, diversion colitis, and possibly in pouchitis. The interaction between bacterial fermentation, ammonia metabolism, and bacterial growth and protein synthesis appears to be the main mechanism of action of lactulose treatment in hepatic coma. Pathological and extremely high rates of saccharide fermentation explain the severe deterioration in patients with D-lactate acidosis. Hence, this scientific field has come late to clinical working gastroenterologists, but as work is progressing the production of SCFAs in the large bowel becomes involved in several well-known intestinal disorders.
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PMID:Short-chain fatty acids in the human colon: relation to gastrointestinal health and disease. 872 86

Previous investigations showed that Schistosoma mansoni infection aggravates protein malabsorption in undernourished mice and this can be reverted by administration of casein hydrolysate. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of ingestion of casein hydrolysate for long periods. Albino Swiss mice were divided into eight groups. Diets contained 5% (undernourished) or 20% (controls) casein levels. For each group there were sub-groups ingesting whole or hydrolysed casein for 12 weeks. Infection with S. mansoni developed in half of the animals under each diet. All undernourished mice developed malabsorption. Low albuminemia was detected in infected animals independently of the protein level in the diet. However, albuminemia was lower in infected controls than in undernourished non-infected mice, suggesting a deficient liver protein synthesis. Infected mice fed on a 20% protein hydrolysed diet exhibited low weight gain and high mortality rates. On the other hand, non-infected mice ingesting the same diet had the highest body weights. We are investigating the hypothesis that infected mice, even when fed normal diets, are unable to metabolise large amounts of amino acids due to the liver lesions related to schistosomiasis and as a result die of hepatic coma. In some of them, the excessive accumulation of ammonia in the blood enhances the outcome of an encephalopathy.
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PMID:A long-term intake of a protein hydrolysate seems to increase the risk of encephalopathy in mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni. 992 50