Kinetic properties of growth of intestinal sulphate-reducing bacteria isolated from healthy mice and mice with ulcerative colitis

Inflammatory bowel disease including ulcerative colitis are complex multifactorial diseases of unknown aetiology. Sulphate-reducing bacteria are often associated with the occurrence of the disease. The physiological properties of intestinal sulphate-reducing bacteria including kinetic characteristic of their growth have never been reported. The aim of this research was to evaluate the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria isolated from the intestines of mice, study their growth, calculate and compare the kinetic growth properties on the model of dextran sulphate sodium induced ulcerative colitis in the mice. The number of viable intestinal sulphate-reducing bacteria from the bowel lumen of mice with ulcerative colitis was higher (P > 0.05) by 22% at 12 h of cultivation compared with cultures of sulphate-reducing bacteria from the bowel lumen of healthy mice. The sulphate-reducing bacteria from mice with colitis also had a slightly higher generation time (14.29 h) and exponential growth phase (22.24 h) compared with cultures from healthy mice. The time of lag-phase was 2 × shorter (P > 0.01) in the cultures of sulphate-reducing bacteria from mice with ulcerative colitis. The described research is new and important for the prediction of the sulphate-reducing bacteria number in the gut and their rate of dissimilatory sulphate reduction. The kinetic characteristic of their growth is important for further clarification of the mechanisms of sulphate reduction and accumulation of hydrogen sulphide, which is toxic for epithelial cells of the intestine and can cause bowel diseases both in humans and animals, in particular ulcerative colitis.