Identification of the translocating bacteria in rats with acute liver injury and their relation to the bacterial flora of the intestinal mucosa.

The bacterial flora of the intestine and the bacteria found in liver, mesenteric lymph nodes, portal and arterial blood after D-galactosamine-induced liver injury, with and without pretreatment with Lactobacillus plantarum DSM 9843, were studied in the rat. Dominating representatives were identified to species level by 16S rDNA sequencing and typed by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and by restriction endonuclease analysis (REA) for strain definition. It was proven that bacterial strains from the intestine occur at extraintestinal sites after liver injury. Lactobacillus spp. dominated the intestinal flora and were also the most frequently found genus in the liver and the mesenteric lymph nodes. Some of the blood isolates, identified as Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus vulgaris and Bacteroides merdae, were not found as a dominating part of the mucosal flora. Treatment with L. plantarum before liver injury decreased translocation and made the intestinal flora increasingly dominated by lactobacilli.