Effect of Biotin Deficiency on the Composition of Intestinal Microflora in Osteogenic Disorder Shionogi Rats

The present study was undertaken to clarify the difference in the intestinal microflora between biotin-deficient and control groups of osteogenic disorder Shionogi rats (ODS). Thirteen four-week-old, male ODS rats weighing 70 gon average were used. Both the biotin-deficient and the control rats were fed a biotin-deficient diet, but the controlrats were administered biotin (100 μg) intraperitoneally once a week and the deficient rats were administered acomparable volume of saline. After feeding for 101 days, the cecal microflora was compared between the two groups by microbiological assay. the number of total aerobes (Ρ< 0.01) and total anaerobes (Ρ<0.02) was higher in the biotin-deficient group than in the control group. the overall total anaerobes/ total aerobes ratio was about 1,000 for the control group and 100 for the deficient group. This was mainly due to an increase in the numbers of the aerobic species Staphylococcus (Ρ< 0.005) and Enterobacteriaceae (Ρ< 0.02) in the deficient group. in the present study biotin was administered intraperitoneally to the control rats, but the composition of the experimental diet (20% egg white diet) was exactly the same for both the control and the biotin-deficient groups. Therefore, the results of the present experiment indicate that peripherally administered biotin can modify the intestinal microflora, probably via humoral changes.