The possible involvement of intestinal bacteria in steroidal hypertension.

The bacterial flora of rats ws modified, using antibiotics, in order to interrupt the enterohepatic circulation of steroids excreted in bile. Antibiotic treatment was contined while corticosterone was administered to these animals, and over five days corticosterone raised blood pressures by an average of 9.2 mmHg compared with 24.6 mmHg in rats given steroid alone. These findings are consistent with the possibility that in normal rats bacterial metabolites of steroids, when reabsorbed in the enterohepatic circulation, contribute to the physiological response to exogenous steroids.