title: Effects of oral Saccharomyces boulardii on bacterial overgrowth, translocation, and intestinal adaptation after small-bowel resection in rats.
abstract: 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 placebo in rats after 50% small-bowel resection.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-three rats were assigned to one of three groups: small-bowel resection (n = 31), transected surgery controls (n = 16), or non-surgical controls (n = 16). Of the 31 rats with small-bowel resection, 15 were given S. boulardii (140 mg/dl), and 16 were given placebo. Intestinal markers measured included bacterial overgrowth (BO) on days 4 and 8 and translocation into mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, 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 on 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-treated rats also had significantly higher levels of all three brush-border enzymes. 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 ileum except an increase in protein content in S. boulardii-treated rats on day 8. Histomorphometric studies showed no differences in ileal villus height 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 significantly enhance the functional adaptation of the remaining intestinal segments.
authors.affiliation: Inserm U458, Hôpital Robert Debré and Laboratoire Biocodex, Paris, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaouche
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Loukil
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De Lagausie
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peuchmaur
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Macry
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fitoussi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bernasconi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bingen
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Cezard
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D018988:Bacterial Translocation; D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012440:Saccharomyces
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes