CARACTERIZACIóN DE LA MICROBIOTA LáCTICA GáSTRICA ASOCIADA A GASTRITIS CRóNICA

introduction: the role of lactic acid bacteria (lab) in the human gastric environment is important, as well as the interaction with helicobacter pylori, a microorganism associated with gastritis and gastric cancer, influences the colonization and the type of host inflammatory response. the lab are part of the microbiota of human stomach, and used as probiotic, it could modulate h. pylori infection. objetive: to determine the distribution of lab according to the type of gastritis in patients from two regions with contrasting risk for gastric cancer: la florida-nari？o (high risk) and tumaco-nari？o (low risk). methods: 113 adult patients diagnosed for gastritis were enrolled: 65 from la florida and 48 from tumaco. mucous biopsies and gastric juices were obtained by endoscopies and were used for histology, isolation of h. pylory and lab. results: the prevalence of lab colonization was higher in patients from la florida (35%) than in those from tumaco (25%). 68% of the lab were found in patients with non-atrophic gastritis. conclusions: lactic gastric microbiota varied with the region of origin and the type of gastritis. lactobacillus paracasei ssp paracasei 1 was the most frequently isolated species in both regions. the prevalence of h. pylori infection was similar both in the patients from la florida (88%) as in those from tumaco (85%). however, the proportion of patients with atrophic gastritis was significatively much higher in la florida (43%) than in tumaco (25%), p< 0.05. probably, other factors such as h. pylori genetic variability, diet and human host polymorphisms could explain these geographical differences.