Effects of oral Saccharomyces boulardii on bacterial overgrowth, translocation, and intestinal adaptation after small-bowel resection in rats

Background: Small-bowel resection in animals results in alterations of the morphology and functional adaptation in the remaining intestine. The aim of our study was to study the effect of Saccharomyces boulardii versus placeb o in rats after 50% small-bowel resection. Methods: Sixty-three rats were a ssigned to one of three groups: small-bowel resection (n = 31), transected surgery controls (n = 16), or non-surgical controls (n = 16). Of the 31 rat s with small-bowel resection, 15 were given S. boulardii (140 mg/dl), and 1 6 were given placebo. Intestinal markers measured included bacterial overgr owth (BO) on days 4 and 8 and translocation into mesenteric lymph nodes, li ver, and spleen. Markers of small-bowel adaptation included histomorphology of the mucosa, protein content, and various brush-border enzymes (sucrase, glucoamylase, n-aminopeptidase). Results: In the jejunal mucosal samples o n day 8, S. boulardii-treated rats showed a significant increase in protein content (58.3 +/- 12 mg/10 cm) compared with placebo-treated rats (29.2 +/ - 1.8) or non-surgery controls (18.3 +/- 1.2: P < 0.001). S, boulardii-trea ted rats also had significantly higher levels of all three brush-border enz ymes. A significant increase of enzyme-specific activities was observed in the ileum of S. boulardii resected rats compared with the placebo resected group on day 4, and no significant differences were seen in the remnant ile um except an increase in protein content in S. boulardii-treated rats on da y 8. Histomorphometric studies showed no differences in ileal villus hei ht or translocation frequencies by day 8 in S. boulardii or placebo resected rats. Conclusions: These data indicate that, after resection. S. boulardii does not modify bacterial overgrowth or translocation frequency but does si gnificantly enhance the functional adaptation of the remaining intestinal s egments.