Cecal and fecal bacterial flora of the Mongolian gerbil and the chinchilla.
Author
Worthington, John M.; Fulghum, Robert S.
Abstract
The Mongolian gerbil is being increasingly used as a laboratory animal and as a pet. Both chinchillas and gerbils are used as animal models for otitis media and other otic research. Previously, only incomplete information was available regarding the indigenous bacterial flora of the lower intestinal tracts of these coprophagic animals. Using the strict anaerobic methodology of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute Anaerobe Laboratory, we studied the predominant bacterial flora of the cecum and fecal pellets of the gerbil and the chinchilla and the bacterial flora of digesta pellets in the proximal colon. We found species of the following anaerobic genera in high dilutions of gerbil fecal pellets: Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, Propionibacterium, Lactobacillus, and Bacteroides. Only lactobacilli were found in high dilutions of digesta from the upper colon, although the cecum yielded Peptostreptococcus, Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, Lactobacillus, Propionibacterium, and Bacteroides species from high dilutions of cecal contents. The facultatively anaerobic and aerobic flora isolated consisted of species of Bacillus, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes, Escherichia, Pasteurella, and Pseudomonas plus several unidentifiable organisms. Species of Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides, Eubacterium, and anaerobic Lactobacillus were isolated from chinchillas. Originally published Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 54, No. 5, May 1988
Subject
Date
1988-05
Citation:
APA:
Worthington, John M., & Fulghum, Robert S.. (May 1988).
Cecal and fecal bacterial flora of the Mongolian gerbil and the chinchilla..
Applied and Environmental Microbiology,
54(5),
1210-
1215. Retrieved from
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/3409
MLA:
Worthington, John M., and Fulghum, Robert S..
"Cecal and fecal bacterial flora of the Mongolian gerbil and the chinchilla.". Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
54:5. (1210-1215),
May 1988.
May 31, 2023.
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/3409.
Chicago:
Worthington, John M. and Fulghum, Robert S.,
"Cecal and fecal bacterial flora of the Mongolian gerbil and the chinchilla.," Applied and Environmental Microbiology 54, no.
5 (May 1988),
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/3409 (accessed
May 31, 2023).
AMA:
Worthington, John M., Fulghum, Robert S..
Cecal and fecal bacterial flora of the Mongolian gerbil and the chinchilla.. Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
May 1988;
54(5):
1210-1215.
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/3409. Accessed
May 31, 2023.
Collections
Publisher
East Carolina University