EFFECT OF LACTULOSE ON BACTERIAL TRANSLOCATION

Objective: To find out if lactulose can prevent the bacterial transloc ation that is induced by obstructive jaundice in rats. Design: Laborat ory experiment. Setting: Teaching hospital, Turkey. Material: 50 male Wistar-albino rats. Interventions: 10 rats were not operated on and us ed as controls; 20 rats underwent laparotomy and sham ligation of the common bile duct (CBD); 20 had the CBD ligated alone; and 20 had the C BD ligated and were given oral lactulose 2 ml/day until death. AU rats were killed after 14 days. Main outcome measures: Presence of Escheri chia coli in mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), and bacterial overgrowth as indicated by counts of E coli in the caecum. Results: There was signi ficantly less bacterial translocation to MLN in the group that had bee n given lactulose compared with CBD-ligated and lactulose not given (2 /20 compared with 8/20, p = 0.06). There was also a significant reduct ion in the number of Gram negative bacteria in that group (p = < 0.01) . Conclusion: Lactulose seems to reduce the incidence of translocation from the gut to MLN in rats with obstructive jaundice.