Investigators at McMaster University (Hamilton, ON, Canada) worked with an in vitro system based on small bits of intestine taken from healthy and previously untreated Balb/c mice. Increasing numbers of Lactobacillus reuteri organisms were added to a warm salt solution as it passed through the hollow internal section of the intestine fragments. The pressure caused by natural contractions of the intestine was measured before, during, and after adding the bacteria.

Results published in the June 2, 2010, online edition of the FASEB Journal revealed that increased dosages of live L. reuteri decreased intestinal motor complex pressure-wave amplitudes within 9 to 16 minutes in a dose dependent fashion. In parallel tests, heat-killed L. reuteri or another live commensal, Lactobacillus salivarius, showed no effect on intestinal pressure.

The investigators reported that at the molecular level the bacteria acted to block calcium- activated potassium transport channel in the intestinal cells.

"This work provides a basis for scientifically and evidence-based approaches to nutrition to correct potential bacterial imbalance in the intestine and thereby promote better health and possibly restore health in diseases associated with these imbalances,” said senior author Dr. Wolfgang Kunze, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at McMaster University.

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