Acquiring intestinal symbiontic bacteria

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Katinka - 15 Apr 2004 12:44 GMT

Hello,

Could anyone explain to me on what way babies acquire symbiontic
bacteria, living in the large intestines? I pressume this process
doesn't take place through the placenta, but please feel free to
correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks,

Katinka

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r norman - 15 Apr 2004 14:24 GMT

>Hello,
>
>Could anyone explain to me on what way babies acquire symbiontic
>bacteria, living in the large intestines? I pressume this process
>doesn't take place through the placenta, but please feel free to
>correct me if I'm wrong.

The bacteria are so abundant and widespread that there is no problem
finding sources in the environment. You are correct in assuming that a
newborn baby is essentially sterile, without gut bacteria. However,
the mother's birth canal, the assisting medical personal, and
everything in the environment has sufficient bacteria to inoculate the
newborn. Remember, the baby tends to root about on the mother sucking
on things until it finds a nipple to nurse on. The newborn is also
very vulnerable to infection by virulent or noxious bacteria until it
gets its own intestinal colony of benign forms.

Some animals (like termites) who are totally dependent on intestinal
microorganisms for survival have special behavioral patterns to ensure
that the young are properly inoculated. For instance, they feed the
newly hatched young through regurgitation.

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bae@cs.toronto.edu.anti-uce.yyz - 15 Apr 2004 17:23 GMT

>The bacteria are so abundant and widespread that there is no problem
>finding sources in the environment. You are correct in assuming that a
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>that the young are properly inoculated. For instance, they feed the
>newly hatched young through regurgitation.

Young ruminants like cattle and sheep apparently get their essential rumen
bacteria by eating fodder that the adults have drooled on. Iguanas eat a
diet consisting mainly of leaves and other high-roughage material as adults,
while the younger animals eat more insects and higher protein foods. When
hatchlings are a few weeks old, they move from the forest edge areas where
they hatched and actively seek out areas where adults live so they can consume
their feces. They then return to the forest edge for several more months.

Healthy cattle have lactobacilli as normal flora in their udders, notably
L.bifidus. Clean unpasteurized milk will turn into yogourt by the action
of these bacteria without other inoculum. I wouldn't be surprised to learn
that other mammals, including humans, normally have such bacteria too, and
that they are an important component of the intestinal flora in nursing
infants. Anyone who's changed diapers on a healthy baby who's still nursing
will have noticed that the feces are different in color and odor than those
of an older child. No doubt the kids pick up other flora later from foods
and from the innate behaviour of putting everything in their mouths!

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Natural Science Forum / Biology / Biology / April 2004

Acquiring intestinal symbiontic bacteria