OBJECTIVETo explore the preventive and treatment effects of smectite powder on enteral bacterial translocation in scalded rats.

METHODSFifty-four Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups, i.e. normal control (A, n = 6), burn control (B, n = 24), and burn treatment (T, n = 24) groups. The rats in B and T groups were fed with tracing bacteria JM109, which was transfected with PUC19 plasmid in advance. The rats were subjected to 30% TBSA scald injury after the plasmid was shown to have colonized in the intestine. Smectite powder (0.6 g/day/kg) was fed to rats of T group immediately after the scalding, while those in B group received no smectite powder. Bacterial translocation in blood and mesenteric lymph nodes in all groups was observed and identified by enzyme digestion at 12 post scald hour (PSH) and on 1, 3 and 5 post-scald days (PSD). The contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined in rat intestinal tissue. And the degree of injury to the entire small intestine was observed pathologically. The villus height of intestinal mucosa was measured, and the rate of epithelial nuclear splitting of mucosal crypts was calculated.

RESULTSThe number of rats with positive blood bacterial culture in B group was obviously higher than that in A and T groups (P < 0.05) on 1 and 5 PSD. The bacterial quantity in mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) in T group on 1 PSD (38 +/- 16 CFU/g) and 5 PSD (68 +/- 20 CFU/g) were obviously lower than those in B group (228 +/- 67 vs 183 +/- 29 CFU/g, P < 0.05). There was significant difference in the intestinal contents of MDA and SOD between B and T groups at each time point (P < 0.05). The rat jejunum villus height and the epithelial nuclear splitting in the small intestine mucosa in T group were evidently higher than those in B group (P < 0.05 or 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSmectite powder is beneficial to the protection of the intestinal mucosa in scalded rats, and can effectively prevent postburn intestinal bacterial translocation in rats.