PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

F Wensinck

Publications and source records attributed to F Wensinck.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Effect of a soluble bacterial carbohydrate fraction on the viscosity of intestinal contents in healthy subjects and patients with Crohn's disease.

Supernatants of faecal suspensions from patients with Crohn's disease (CD) showed much lower viscosity than those from healthy subjects. Material responsible for the viscosity could be precipitated with ethanol. Gel filtration indicated that the viscosity was not due to the glycoprotein fraction but to a fraction with higher molecular weight and relatively high contents of muramic acid suggesting a bacterial origin. The concentration and viscosity of this fraction are less in faeces from patients with CD than in that of healthy subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

The obligate anaerobic faecal flora of patients with Crohn's disease and their first-degree relatives.

The obligate anaerobic faecal floras of patients with Crohn's disease, their first-degree relatives, and healthy control subjects were compared. The flora of Crohn's patients contained more anaerobic gram-positive coccoid rods and gram-negative rods than that of healthy subjects; on this basis patients and healthy subjects formed two clusters with minor overlap. Nine of 26 children of Crohn's patients were also included within the Crohn's disease cluster. During 5 to 7 years of follow-up study 3 of them presented with remitting abdominal pain, diarrhoea, or weight loss, and in 1 of them Crohn's disease was diagnosed; none of the 17 children with a normal flora showed symptoms possibly due to Crohn's disease. It is concluded that the abnormal flora may be indigenous to subjects predisposed to Crohn's disease, suggesting a direct or indirect relationship between the abnormal faecal flora and Crohn's disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

[Serodiagnosis of Crohn's disease].

Three serological tests, recommended as being of diagnostic value for Crohn's disease, were evaluated in 39 patients with Crohn's disease and--as controls--in 27 patients with ulcerative colitis, 45 healthy persons and 65 patients with inflammatory diseases other than Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. The tests were the determination of (1) serum antibodies to pseudomonas-like organisms (PLO) by means of indirect immunofluorescence; (2) agglutinating serum antibodies to 4 strains of anaerobic gram-positive coccoid rods (species of Eubacterium, Peptostreptococcus and Coprococcus); and (3) serum antibodies to perinuclear antigens in buccal mucosa of Crohn's disease patients by immunofluorescence. The results indicate that the occurrence of high-titer antibodies to PLO is reasonably sensitive for Crohn's disease, but has a low specificity, and that antibodies to perinuclear antigens in buccal mucosa have both low sensitivity and specificity. However, the occurrence of agglutinins to 4 strains of anaerobic grampositive coccoid rods is significantly higher in Crohn's disease than in ulcerative colitis, patients with other diseases and healthy controls. Thus the determination of these agglutinins does not discriminate between Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis; but it is a serodiagnostic adjunct in the diagnosis of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMed1983

An international study of agglutinins to Eubacterium, Peptostreptococcus and Coprococcus species in Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and control subjects.

The world-wide occurrence of agglutinating antibodies to four coccoid anaerobes belonging to Eubacterium, Peptostreptococcus and Coprococcus spp. was investigated in 937 coded sera from patients suffering from Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, various other diseases and from healthy controls. Positive results were found in 59% of patients with Crohn's disease, 29% of patients with ulcerative colitis, and 8% of both diseased and healthy control subjects. Patients with Crohn's disease of the colon had more positive tests (67%) than patients with disease confined to the small bowel (46%). The results show that agglutinating antibodies to the coccoid anaerobes occur more frequently in patients with Crohn's disease than in other subjects in widely varying geographic regions.

Anaerobiosis↗
PubMed1983

Selected bacterial antibodies in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Agglutinins to four strains of anaerobic gram-positive coccoid rods (species of Eubacterium, Peptostreptococcus and Coprococcus) were found in significantly higher frequency in Crohn's disease (CD) than in ulcerative colitis (UC) and in other diseased control subjects and were virtually absent in apparently healthy subjects. When the posterior probability of having CD was calculated on the basis of these agglutination reactions, 64% of patients with CD and 34% of patients with UC but only 10% of diseased controls and none of the healthy controls were regarded as 'probable' or 'definite' cases of CD. However, the posterior probability of CD did not sharply differentiate between CD and UC but indicated chronic inflammatory bowel disease. Factors contributing to the appearance of these agglutinins in CD were also evaluated. The findings would indicate the importance of a damaged intestinal mucosal barrier for the production of these agglutinins, provided the antigens are present in the intestine. No significant differences were observed between the occurrence of antibodies to pseudomonas-like organisms (PLO) in CD and the various control groups. The study could not add further evidence to the hypothesis of a possible aetiopathogenic role of PLO in CD.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMed1982

Factors determining the occurrence of serum agglutinins to eubacterium and peptostreptococcus species in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Recently, the demonstration of serum agglutinins to Eubacterium and Peptostreptococcus strains has been found to be useful as a diagnostic test for Crohn's disease. Therefore, conditions determining the occurrence of these antibodies were studied in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Localization of Crohn's disease in the colon, the presence of fistulae and serum levels of immunoglobulins were found to be contributory determinants for the occurrence of the agglutinins.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

The faecal flora of patients with Crohn's disease.

The faecal flora of patients with Crohn's disease was compared with that of healthy subjects. In patients with terminal ileitis, numbers of anaerobic gram-negative and coccoid rods (species of Eubacterium and peptostreptococcus) were higher than in the controls whereas anaerobic gram-positive rods and cocci and aerobes occurred in normal numbers. The composition of the flora was neither influenced by duration of the disease nor by ileocaecal resection. In healthy subjects and patients, a chemically defined diet induced only slight changes in the flora. Thus, the flora in terminal ileitis although stable was permanently abnormal. In the patients with Crohn's colitis, abnormally low numbers of anaerobes were found in patients with severe, bloody diarrhoea while aerobic counts were normal. The flora in patients with mild colitis was similar to that in terminal ileitis. It is suggested that the abnormal flora composition might be an expression of the genetic predisposition to Crohn's disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Serum agglutinins to Eubacterium and Peptostreptococcus species in Crohn's and other diseases.

Sera from patients suffering from Crohn's and other diseases and from healthy subjects were tested for agglutinins to anaerobic, gram-positive coccoid rods belonging to species of Eubacterium and Peptostreptococcus. Four strains labelled Eubacterium contortum (two strains), Eubacterium rectale and Peptostreptococcus productus were agglutinated by a higher percentage of sera from patients with Crohn's disease than from healthy subjects and from patients with liver and intestinal diseases (including ulcerative colitis), ankylosing spondylitis, granulomatous diseases, diseases of immunity and malignancies. The agglutinins were of the IgG and IgM classes and strain-specific; the titres were low. The results obtained with sera from patients with Crohn's disease and healthy people were subjected to discriminant analysis to estimate the probability, based on the combined results with the four strains, that a patient suffers from Crohn's disease. When sera giving an a posteriori probability greater than or equal to 0.95 (a priori probability = 0.5) were considered positive, the test with four strains had a sensitivity of 54% and a specificity of nearly 100%. The results with sera submitted for diagnosis showed that positive reactions in patients with a diagnosis apparently incompatible with Crohn's disease were within acceptable limits.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Antibodies to Eubacterium and Peptostreptococcus species and the estimated probability of Crohn's disease.

Anaerobic coccoid rods belonging to species of Eubacterium and Peptostreptococcus agglutinate more frequently with sera from patients with Crohn's disease than with sera from patients suffering from other diseases and from healthy subjects. Results of agglutination test with four strains of coccoid anaerobes were used to estimate the probability that a patient suffers from Crohn's disease. The data on healthy subjects and patients with Crohn's disease were subjected to logistic discriminant analysis. With the methods and interpretation described, 52% of the patients with Crohn's disease were recognized as 'definite' or 'probable' Crohn's disease and 14% as 'suspected'. Only 1% of the healthy subjects were classified as 'suspected' and non as 'definite' or 'probable' Crohn's disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Agglutinins to bacteria in Crohn's disease.

Sera from patients with Crohn's disease were tested for antibodies against organisms which are thought to cause inflammatory bowel disease in animals, or have been implicated in human Crohn's disease. Control sera were collected from healthy individuals and patients with ulcerative colitis. Sera from Crohn's disease and controls failed to agglutinate Clostridium colinum or Campylobacter sputorum subsp. mucosalis and two strains of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (M26 and M27). Most of the sera agglutinated a Citrobacter freundii variant, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (M28) and Mycobacterium avium (M41) but Crohn's disease sera did not differ from controls. A complement fixation test against Chlamydia gave more positive reactions in patients with Crohn's disease and colitis than in healthy controls. There was a clear difference between the sera from patients with Crohn's disease and other sera, including ulcerative colitis, in agglutination tests with the commensal coccoid rods of the genera Eubacterium and Peptostreptococcus; in these tests 54% of sera from Crohn's disease were positive compared with 11% in ulcerative colitis and none of the sera from healthy controls. All the results were essentially negative with the exception of those from Eubacterium and Peptostreptococcus and these bacteria merit investigation.

Agglutination Tests↗
PubMed1971

The intestinal flora of colonization-resistant mice.

To facilitate the isolation of anaerobes from cultures in which swarming organisms were present Roux flasks were adapted to provide anaerobic conditions. Using these flasks, five species of anaerobes were isolated from the caecum of mice resistant to colonization with Escherichia coli and other Gram-negative organisms. These species accounted for the majority of organisms seen in films of caecal material. No aerobes were isolated and the flora of these mice apparently consisted of a limited number of anaerobes representing part of the intestinal flora of conventional mice. Three of the species were clostridia and another was identified as Propionibacterium acnes. One species resembled Catenabacterium but was not identified. One of the Clostridium species could only be isolated when the medium was supplemented with yeast extract and vitamins. This species sporulated on media with ammonium phosphate as the source of nitrogen; tryptone completely suppressed sporulation.

Animals↗