Microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract of the rat prevent absorption of the mutagen-carcinogen 3-amino-1,4-dimethyl-5H-pyrido(4,3-b)indole.

The extent to which lactic acid bacteria, intestinal bacteria, and yeast from the gastrointestinal tract of rats suppress the absorption of 3-amino-1,4-dimethyl-5H-pyrido(4,3-b)indole (Trp-P-1) was investigated. Trp-P-1 was absorbed from the small intestine very rapidly, but in the stomach it was slowly absorbed, requiring 1 or 2 h after administration. When mixtures of Trp-P-1 and freeze-dried microorganisms were administered to rats for 1 h, the amounts of Trp-P-1 absorbed from the small intestine were significantly reduced, and the levels of Trp-P-1 in blood decreased by 40.4-64.7% compared with a control in which only Trp-P-1 was administered. There were no significant differences between the organisms used. In vitro, freeze-dried cells of the strains tested bound 51-97% of Trp-P-1. The Trp-P-1 bound to cells was effectively extracted by aqueous methanol, ethanol, ammonia (50 g/L), and solutions of MgCl2 and CaCl2 (100 mM/mL), but little was extracted by water and solutions of KCl, NaCl, and buffers at various pH values.