Effects of Different Probiotics in Indomethacin-Induced Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Rats

Abstract

In this study, a total of 50 male Sprague-Dawley rats were used for comparative evaluation of therapeutic effects of different probiotics, VSL#3 (a combination of different probiotic bacteria), Lactobacillus acidophilus, and kefir in enterocolitis induced by subcutaneous administration of indomethacin (7.5 mg/kg) twice at 24-hour interval as the experimental inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) model. Probiotics were orally administered by orogastric gavage on a daily basis for 7 days after induction of IBD, and then rats were euthanased and tissue samples were obtained for macroscopical and histopathological investigations. At the end of the study, it was concluded that therapeutic efficiency of mix probiotic product, which contained different commercial probiotic bacterial strains, was determined in IBD, and therapeutic efficiency of kefir was also found to be notable in IBD. However, therapeutic activity of Lactobacillus acidophilus alone was not satisfactory for IBD therapy. © 2009 M. & H. Schaper GmbH.