Effect of Four Enteral Foods on the Small Bowel of Undernourished Rats after Midgut Resection

Abstract

To describe the effects of new enteral foods on the adaptation of the gut mucosa after massive intestinal resection in rats. Laboratory experiment. Teaching hospital, Spain. 91 male Wistar rats, 69 of which were studied (5 were excluded and 17 died). Previously undernourished rats were subjected to either massive bowel resection (n = 30) or laparotomy (n = 26) and fed four enteral hypocaloric diets for 7 days: Alitraq (n = 7 in each group), Impact (n = 8 and 7), Enrich (n = 8 and 6), and Elemental (n = 7 and 6). The remainder were not operated on and fed chow (n = 7) or a diet containing no protein (n = 6). Two diets were high in protein (Alitraq and Impact) and two contained normal amounts (Enrich and Elemental). Bowel mucosal thickness and proliferation; disaccharidase activity; intestinal weight and length; body weight; and plasma somatostatin, IGF-1, and peptide YY concentrations. Enriched diets provided a higher body and intestinal weight, and increased length of jejunal and ileal villous size. Peptide concentrations were modified by resection but not by the diet given. Concentrations of somatostatin and insulin-like growth factor were reduced in all groups with the exception of somatostatin in the two diets high in protein in the sham-operated rats. Enriched diets all improve the intestinal adaptive response to massive bowel resection in rats, offering advantages over diets with normal amounts of protein.