[In vitro evaluation of influence of medicinal plant decoctions and antibacterial antibodies to bifidobacteria on...

Natural antibodies to the surface antigens of bifidobacteria contained in blood sera and determined in the passive hemagglutination test blocked the adhesion of bifidobacteria to human red blood cells in vitro. The decoctions of medicinal plants, often used by pediatricians for therapeutic purposes, were found to have a pronounced inhibiting effect on the adhesion of bifidobacteria after the preliminary treatment of both microorganisms and human red blood cells by these decoctions. Suggestion was made on the possible role of natural human antibodies in changing the contents of the indigenous intestinal microflora; the prolonged use of preparations obtained from medicinal plants could probably produce negative influence on the microbiocenosis of the intestine.