[Bacterial translocation: the effect of supplements with dietary fiber in enteral diets in an experimental model of methotrexate-induced enterocolitis].

Bacterial translocation, described by 1979 by Berg and Garlington as the movement of viable bacteria through anatomically intact intestinal mucosa to the mesenteric ganglia, is suspected of playing an important role in the development of sepsis with no apparent focus, fundamentally in polytraumatized and sever surgical patients: even now, with the wide range of antibiotic and chemotherapy agents available for treatment, this sepsis represents a high rate of hospital morbid-mortality. To assess the function as barrier of the intestinal mucosa and the influence of dietary fiber thereon, we studied bacterial translocation measured as positive cultures of the mesenteric lymphatic ganglia in an experiment model of enterocolitis induced by the intraperitoneal injection of 20 mg/kg of Methotrexate (MTX), using 72 male S-D rats, half of which were used as control group. These animals were sub-divided into four series according to the diet they were to receive. In addition to bacterial translocation, we examined the intestinal mucous parameters (mucosa weight, protein and DNA content, and number of mitoses) to quantify the potential trophic effect of dietary fiber on the intestinal mucosa. In the group subject to enterocolitis, there were no significant differences in the bacterial translocation with the series fed with defined-formula diets supplemented or otherwise with dietary fiber. Only the series receiving standard feed showed a significant reduction of bacterial translocation. pectin improved all mucous parameters when compared with the other diets studied. In the control group, the bacterial translocation rate was zero in all dietary series.