American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 23, 1495-1501, Copyright © 1970 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Associations of Indigenous Microorganisms with Gastrointestinal Mucosal Epithelia

¹ Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712

Microorganisms of the indigenous biota colonize intimately certain epithelia of the gastrointestinal mucosas of several mammalian species including man. The best characterized of such microbe-epithelium associations are found in laboratory mice and rats. In those animals, some bacteria colonize certain epithelia soon after birth during the suckling period, whereas other microorganisms establish only after the animals are weaned. The microorganisms are probably highly adapted to growth on particular epithelia; the associations seem to be quite stable. The mechanisms involved in the stable interactions are obscure, but may involve nutritional and environmental factors, microbial interference, and specific macromolecular interactions between microbial surfaces and mammalian epithelia. Such interactions may be important in mammalian physiology and in the resistance of animals to certain infectious diseases.

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