The mammalian intestine is home to ~100 trillion bacteria that perform important metabolic functions for their hosts. The proximity of vast numbers of bacteria to host intestinal tissues raises the question of how symbiotic host-bacterial relationships are maintained without eliciting potentially harmful immune responses. Here, we show that RegIIIγ, a secreted antibacterial lectin, is essential...

We previously demonstrated that ciprofloxacin (CPX), a new quinolone antibiotic, suppresses Cyp3a in the mouse liver by reducing the hepatic level of lithocholic acid (LCA) produced by intestinal flora. The present study investigated the possibility that other antibiotics with antibacterial activity against LCA-producing bacteria also cause a decrease in the LCA level in the liver, leading to r...

Immunoglobulin (Ig) A represents the predominant antibody isotype produced at the intestinal mucosa, where it plays an important role in limiting the penetration of commensal intestinal bacteria and opportunistic pathogens. We show in mice that Peyer's Patch-derived dendritic cells (PP-DC) exhibit a specialized phenotype allowing the promotion of IgA production by B2 cells. This phenotype inclu...

Background We previously reported that the mouse Ly6/Plaur domain containing 8 (mLypd8), a GPI-anchored protein highly and selectively expressed on colonic epithelia, contributes to segregation of intestinal microbiota and intestinal epithelia and is critical for prevention of intestinal inflammation. In addition, it was found that human LYPD8 (hLYPD8) is expressed in the colonic epithelia and ...

Antimicrobial peptides are major effectors of innate immunity of multicellular organisms including humans and play a critical role in host defense, and their importance is widely recognized. The epithelium of the intestine is the largest surface area exposed to the outer environment, including pathogens, toxins and foods. The Paneth cell lineage of intestinal epithelial cells produces and secre...

Normal luminal bacteria and bacterial cell wall polymers are implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic intestinal inflammation. To determine the direct involvement of bacteria and their products on intestinal fibrogenesis, the effects of purified bacterial cell wall polymers on collagen and cytokine synthesis were evaluated in intestinal myofibroblast cultures established from normal fetal and ...

The intestine is the shared site of nutrient digestion, microbiota colonization and immune cell location and this geographic proximity contributes to a large extent to their interaction. The onset and development of a great many diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic syndrome, will be caused due to the imbalance of body immune. As competent assistants, the intestinal bacteri...

Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are the two principal forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Animal studies show that bacteria are involved in the etiology of IBD, and much is now known about the inflammatory processes associated with CD and UC, as well as the underlying genetic, environmental, and lifestyle issues that can affect an individual's predisposition to these dis...

Intestinal monosaccharide transport was studied in a series of rats with a self-filling jejunal blind loop using 3mM arbutin (p-hydroxyphenyl-B-glucoside) or 1mM D-fructose as substrate in vitro and 10 mM arbutin or 5mM D-fructose in vivo. These results were compared with changes in the bacterial flora and state of conjugation of intraluminal bile salts in those animals. Observations were also ...

BACKGROUND Postmortem microbiological examinations are performed in forensic and medical pathology for defining uncertain causes of deaths and for screening of deceased tissue donors. Interpretation of bacteriological data, however, is hampered by false-positive results due to agonal spread of microorganisms, postmortem bacterial translocation, and environmental contamination. METHODOLOGY/PRI...