American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 23, 1533-1540, Copyright © 1970 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Gnotobiology is Ecology

¹ From the Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri Medical School, Columbia, Missouri 65201

Gnotobiology allows a more exact exploration of ecology by separating macrobes from microbes and providing an experimental base for qualitative and quantitative understanding of the interaction of microbes in and with the host. Mono- and diflora studies with E. coli, L. leichmannii, S. epidermidis, and C. albicans indicated that each microbe exerted profound effects upon the host and upon any coinhabitant of the host. The S. epidermidis monoflora mice were better than other gnotobiotic mice for the following parameters: growth, hemoglobin, and cecum size. The S. epidermidis-C. albicans diflora mice were the most nude and showed the best survival of all the groups compared. The E. coli monoflora gave the best fur coat and the worst survival. For most parameters measured in gnotophonic mice S. epidermidis dominated C. albicans, C. albicans dominated E. coli, and L. leichmannii gave a depressing action with either C. albicans or E. coli. None of this information was reflected in the fecal microbe counts.