title: Comparison of prophylactic and therapeutic use of short-chain fatty acid enemas in diversion colitis: a study in Wistar rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the effect of short-chain fatty-acids on atrophy and inflammation of excluded colonic segments before and after the development of diversion colitis.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Diversion colitis is a chronic inflammatory process affecting the dysfunctional colon, possibly evolving with mucous and blood discharge. The most favored hypotheses to explain its development is short-chain fatty-acid deficiency in the colon lumen.
  
  
  METHODS
  Wistar rats were submitted to colostomy with distal colon exclusion. Two control groups (A1 and B1) received rectally administered physiological saline, whereas two experimental groups (A2 and B2) received rectally administered short-chain fatty-acids. The A groups were prophylactically treated (5th to 40th days postoperatively), whereas the B groups were therapeutically treated (after post-operative day 40). The mucosal thickness of the excluded colon was measured histologically. The inflammatory reaction of the mucosal lamina propria and the lymphoid tissue response were quantified through established scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant thickness recovery of the colonic mucosa in group B2 animals (p = 0.0001), which also exhibited a significant reduction in the number of eosinophilic polymorphonuclear cells in the lamina propria (p = 0.0126) and in the intestinal lumen (p = 0.0256). Group A2 showed no mucosal thickness recovery and significant increases in the numbers of lymphocytes (p = 0.0006) and eosinophilic polymorphonuclear cells in the lamina propria of the mucosa (p = 0.0022).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Therapeutic use of short-chain fatty-acids significantly reduced eosinophilic polymorphonuclear cell numbers in the intestinal wall and in the colonic lumen; it also reversed the atrophy of the colonic mucosa. Prophylactic use did not impede the development of mucosal atrophy.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ariano Jose Freitas de
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Francisco Edilson Leite
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Pinto Júnior
authors.forename: Maria Célia Carvalho
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Formiga
authors.forename: Syomara Pereira da Costa
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brandao-Neto
authors.forename: Ana Maria de Oliveira
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ramos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001284:Atrophy / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D003092:Colitis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003125:Colostomy; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004733:Enema / Q000379:methods; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile