EVALUATION OF FRUCTOOLIGOSACCHARIDE SUPPLEMENTATION OF ORAL ELECTROLYTE-SOLUTIONS FOR TREATMENT OF DIARRHEA - RECOVERY OF THE INTESTINAL BACTERIA

Although oral electrolyte solutions (OES) replenish salts and water lo st during diarrhea, present formulations do not address disturbances o f the normal intestinal microbiota. Therefore, we evaluated the effica cy of an OES with and without fructooligosaccharide (FOS) for treatmen t of pigs with acute secretory diarrhea induced by cholera toxin. Befo re, during, and after diarrhea, bacteriologic evaluation was made of c ontents collected from the mid small intestine, cecum, and distal colo n and mucosa scraped from the mid small intestine. Diarrhea caused sig nificant declines in total bacterial counts of contents from all three regions, with less of an impact on bacteria associated with the mucos a. Although total bacterial counts recovered within 24 hr, regardless of treatment, densities of Enterobacteriaceae were higher in pigs trea ted with OES whereas those receiving FOS had more lactobacilli. Our re sults show that secretory diarrhea disturbs the normal densities and r elative species abundance of the microbiota, with the influences more pronounced for contents relative to the mucosa, and that adding FOS to OES accelerates the recovery of bacteria perceived as beneficial whil e potentially slowing the recovery of pathogenic forms.