BACTERIAL METABOLISM WITHIN THE BODY 689 



of injecting 1 indol into the circulation of animals suggest that the escape 

 of unoxidizcd putrefactive products, such as indol or aromatic ainin.s, 

 from the live; 1 to the general circulation is more frequently a causative 

 factor in the production of symptoms than a mere overproduction and 

 absorption of these substances from the alimentary canal, when the liver 

 is functioning normally. 



It is conceivable, although evidence upon this point is not available, 

 that the epithelial or underlying cells of the intestinal tract may possess 

 to a degree the power of oxidizing or altering these aromatic amines and 

 other putrefaction products. 



Attention is directed at this point to the important studies of Si- 

 nionds upon the effects of carbohydrate in liver poisoning. He says, 

 "The administration of sugar will prove to be an important therapeutic 

 measure in phosphorus and chloroform poisoning, in human beings, in 

 acute yellow atrophy and possibly in eclampsia." It would appear from 

 his experiments and observations that inasmuch as liver enzymic activ- 

 ity is strengthened, even when specific poisoning has taken place, that a 

 similar procedure would be of material benefit when the liver is permit- 

 ting the escape of unoxidized putrefactive products into the general cir- 

 culation. The administration of carbohydrate, it seems, is at once good 

 physiology, good biochemistry, and good bacteriology. 



Summary 



Evidence has been presented that the bacterial decomposition of pro- 

 teins or protein derivatives for energy may result in the production of 

 specific, soluble toxins, aromatic, physiologically active amins, putrefac- 

 tive products, such as indol or skatol, and of unknown products which are 

 harmful in varying degrees to man. In a majority of instances, these 

 various products, which are specific for the specific organisms, do not form 

 in the presence of utilizable carbohydrates. In the latter event, practi- 

 cally all these bacteria are potentially sour milk bacteria so far as their 

 products of growth are concerned, forming lactic and acetic acids in place 

 of specific products of protein degradation. 



Many of these protein products of bacterial formation are, or may be, 

 found in the alimentary canal. It is obvious that a correlation may exist 

 between alimentation, intestinal bacteria, health, and chronic or acute 

 disease. Furthermore, the close connection between the nature of the 

 food and the character of the products produced in the test tube may 

 have a corresponding relationship in the human alimentary canal, inas- 

 much as the two reacting agents food and microbes are fundamentally 

 the same in both instances. The striking parallelism between diet and 

 bacteria is shown in the changes in intestinal bacteria which follow ma- 

 terial changes in diet. 



