Effects of probiotics on the severity of experimental acute pancreatitis

Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the effects of probiotics on the severity of experimental acute pancreatitis. Design: Experimental study. Setting: Experiments were done in a laboratory at Haydarpasa Numune Teaching and Research Hospital. Subjects: A total of 50 Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups. Interventions: Group 1 was control group. Group 2 received an intraperitoneal injection of a 20% solution in 0.15 mol/l NaCL. Group 3 was injected NaCL and fed with probiotics. Acute pancreatitis was induced in rats by intrperitoneal injection of L-Arginine in groups 4 and 5. The rats in group 5 were treated with probiotics. The pancreas was removed for histologic examination. Evaluation of the pathologic changes was done by a new combined histopathologic grading scale. Results: The mean scores of fibrosis, acinar cell loss, oedema, parenchymal necrosis, mononuclear cells infiltration, polymorphonuclear leucocytes infiltration, ductal damage and atypical reactive regeneration in group 5 were significantly lower than group 4. Conclusions: We demonstrated that enteral feedings with added probiotics can reduce the severity of acute pancreatitis.