INTESTINAL BACTERIAL OVERGROWTH AND BACTERIAL TRANSLOCATION IN CIRRHOTIC RATS WITH ASCITES

Background/Aims: Translocation of indigenous bacteria from the gut lum en of cirrhotic animals to mesenteric enteric lymph nodes appears to b e an important step in the pathogenesis of spontaneous bacterial perit onitis, However, the sequence of events leading to translocation remai ns unclear, One of the most predictable risk factors for translocation is overgrowth of gut bacterial flora, The present study nas designed to compare the intestinal aerobic bacterial flora of cecal stools at t he time of sacrifice between cirrhotic and normal rats and to evaluate the role of intestinal aerobic bacterial overgrowth in bacterial tran slocation in cirrhotic rats. Methods: Thirty-fire male Sprague-Dawley rats with carbon tetrachloride-induced cirrhosis and ascites and 10 no rmal rats were included in this study, Cirrhotic rats sere sacrificed when ill and samples of ascitic fluid, mesenteric lymph nodes and ceca l stool were taken for detecting quantitatively aerobic bacteria. Resu lts: Total intestinal aerobic bacterial count in cecal stool at the ti me of sacrifice was significantly increased in cirrhotic rats with bac terial translocation with or without spontaneous bacterial peritonitis compared to cirrhotic rats without bacterial translocation (p<0.001 a nd p<0.001, respectively) and to normal rats ((p<0.001 and p<0.001, re spectively). Of the 42 species of bacteria translocating to the mesent eric lymph nodes, 41 (97.6%) were found in supranormal numbers in the stool at the time of sacrifice. Conclusions: Carbon tetrachloride-indu ced cirrhotic rats with bacterial translocation have increased total i ntestinal aerobic bacteria count, and intestinal bacterial overgrowth appears to play an important role in bacterial translocation in this e xperimental model of cirrhosis in rats.