Abstract
The intra-intestinal acid-base equilibrium and the distribution of the bacterial flora have been investigated in certain vitamin deficiencies. The basic diet consisted of casein, cornstarch, Osborne and Mendel salt mixture, butter fat and dried yeast. In the vitamin A deficient diet, the butter fat was omitted. In the vitamin B deficient diet the yeast was omitted. Sixty-five 50 gm. rats were placed upon each of these 3 diets. The vitamin A deficiency series were killed in gas chamber after 7-8 weeks, the B deficiency series after 3-4 weeks. The end point was determined at the time the weight curve was stationary for 4 successive days. The controls were fed for 8 weeks.
All animals were put in single cages and fasted for 24 hours. Illuminating gas lethal chambers were used to kill the rats. The specimen of gastro-intestinal contents were removed after ligature of the segments with hemostats. The upper portion of the tract was empty and to make conditions comparable, 0.4 cc. of distilled water was used to flush out each 3 cm. length segment of the isolated loop to obtain specimen. Finely drawn out Wright's pipettes were used. One drop was used to seed surface of agar plates, the same spreader was used for a second plate for dilution. The capillary Heiligs colorimeter was used to determine the h-ion concentration of the same specimen. Not more than 5 minutes must elapse before this determination is made, otherwise the pH becomes progressively more alkaline with time until the blood reaction is reached. The number of colonies have been recorded. We can best express our results by taking the caecal bacterial flora of the highest count as 100 and arranging the various segments in percent of these figures.
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