[Reduction of aromatic nitro compounds in the intestine].

An ortho-nitrophenol solution was injected into the intestine which had been removed from an anesthetized mouse by placing a ligature at the duodenum and at the rectum. The intestine was then incubated in Ringer's solution at 37•Ž and the ortho-nitrophenol was found to be reduced to ortho aminophenol. At the same time, it was found that ortho-nitrophenol which was incubated with the intestinal flora in bouillon was reduced to ortho-aminophenol. The results of our experiment seem to suggest that reduction is induced in almost no time by the intestinal flora when ortho-nitrophenol is introduced into the intestine and that some aromatic nitro compounds introduced into the system may be reduced to amino compounds in the intestine before they are carried to the liver to be reduced.