960-968<span style="mso-bidi-language:
HI" lang="EN-GB">Gastroenterological disorders are very common at hyperbaric conditions. The
present study was conducted to find out the impact of gut flora on the
gastrointestinal disorders created at such environmental circumstances. For
this, male albino rat were exposed to graded hyperbaric pressures (915 and 1277
mmHg) and large intestinal content was examined for microbial composition using
culture based and PCR-DGGE tools. After 30 day exposure, total aerobes (38.54
and 375.57 folds, 1.35 and 1.58 gdi) and E. coli <span style="mso-bidi-font-style:
italic">(126.05 and 873.23 folds, 1.31 and 1.44 gdi) were
increased whereas total anaerobes (7.01 × 104 and 8.84 × 103 folds,
-1.56 and -1.39 gdi), Enterobacter spp. (-2.45 and -1.00 gdi) and Clostridium
perfringens (12.88 and
54.16 folds, -1.38 and -1.75 gdi) were decreased significantly in respect to
control after exposure of simulated hyperbaric pressures like at 915 and 1277
mmHg, respectively. Metagenomics study revealed an
overall reduction in total microbial profile was noted than control at
higher level hyperbaric pressure, i.e., 1277 mmHg air pressure for highest
duration of exposure.
Though, some new bands also appeared which indicated the expansion of dormant
or new microbiota, Variation in the numbers of these newly dominated bacteria
was correlated to dose and duration of hyperbaric treatment. The histological results
clearly indicated that hyperbaric environment induced severe inflammation in
the mucosal and submucosal layer of large intestine. Thus, the result suggest
that hyperbaric pressure is an important exogenous factor that strongly
modulated the intestinal morphology and microbial ecology, and induced several
gastrointestinal ailments during hyperbarism.
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