The effect of enteral feedings supplemented with pectin on the healing of colonic anastomoses in the rat.

The effect of the addition of pectin to an elemental diet on the healing of experimental colonic anastomoses was investigated. Transection and anastomosis of the ascending colon and feeding gastrostomy were performed in 24 Sprague-Dawley rats. All rats then received an elemental diet, and 12 of them had 1% (w/v) citrus pectin added to their diet. On the seventh postoperative day, animals that received pectin-supplemented diets had significantly greater bursting pressures at the anastomoses (266 versus 234 mm Hg, p less than 0.04) and significantly lower colonic mucosal pH (6.2 versus 6.8, p less than 0.001) than animals that received the elemental diet only. The colons from animals fed pectin also had significantly higher hydroxyproline content at the anastomosis than those of the control animals (46.6 versus 40.7 micrograms hydroxyproline nitrogen/mg tissue nitrogen, p less than 0.05). The decreased intracolonic pH is consistent with the hypothesis that improved healing is a local effect mediated by the presence of short-chain fatty acids resulting from the fermentation of pectin.