Kokichi Fukushima

Deconjugation of bile acids by human intestinal bacteria

SummaryThe purpose of this report is to present the deconjugation of bile acids by numbers of strains of bacteria in the small intestine and feces. The small intestinal juice was aseptically aspirated by a double lumen tube with a rubber cover on the tip devised by us (“Fukushima Type 1”). Bile acids were analyzed with thin layer chromatography. The results: 1) Among aerobic bacteria, species of which all of the strains split conjugated bile acids was enterococcus, and most of the strains split were Staphylococcus (S.) epidermidis and Lactobacillus (L.) bifidus. Species of which none of the strains split were Escherichia (E.) coli, E. communior, E. freundii, L. plantarum, L. acidophilus, L. buchneri, L. cellobiosus, L. bulgaricus, S. aureus, Aerobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida, proteus, serratia, and almost none of the species split was Intermediate coliform bacilli. 2) Among anaerobic bacteria, species of which all of the strains split were Bacteroides (B.) vulgatus, B. thetaiotaomicron, B. uniformis, Corynebacterium (C.) granulosum, C. avidum, Peptostreptococcus (Peptostrept.) putridus, Eubacterium (Eubact.) lentum, Peptococcus (Pept.) grigoroffii, Pept. anaerobius, Veillonella (V.) orbiculus, and most of the strains split were Coryne. diphtheroides, Eubact. parvum, Peptostrept. intermedius. Species of which none of the strains split were Coryne. parvum, Peptostrept. micros, V. alcalescens, V. parvula, Catenabacterium (Catena.) catenaforme, and Catena, filamentosum. 3) All or none, or almost all or none, of the strains of each species tested split conjugated bile acids, and it seems probable that the presence or absence of this ability would be a proper character of each species.

Radiological observations on the development of the shortening of the lesser curvature (Snaillike retraction of the lesser curvature) in the cases with gastric ulcer

The progression of the shor tening of the lesser curvature was invest igated radiologically in the 45 cases with in t rac table gastr ic ulcer (pers is tent type 17, r ecur ren t type 27, follow-up period 1~6 years). The index of the shor tening was expressed by the rat io of the length of the lesser curva ture to tha t of the grea ter curvature, both measured with ki lvimeter on the serial X-ray films taken in upright posit ion us ing 300 cc of cont ras t media, 1) Out of 45 cases, the progression of the shor tening occured only in 7 cases, marked in 4 and moderate in 3. 2) The progression of the shor tening occured almost exclusively in the male patients. The female pat ients seemed to have a resis tance to the development of the shortening. 3) The shor tening developed more f requent ly in the age group of 41~50 years than the other age groups. 4) The type of ulcer in the cases with progression of the shor tening were l inear in 4, gastroduodenal in 2 and kissing type in one. Some of them were penet ra t ing type. In 22 cases with single round gastr ic ulcer, none showed significant shor tening during the observat ion period.