ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Panminerva Medica 2001 March;43(1):11-4

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

The influence of somatostatin on bacterial translocation

Tocchi A., Costa G., Lepre L., Mazzoni G., Liotta G., Agostini N., Miccini M., Cassini D.

From the 1st Department of Surgery University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Medical School Rome, Italy

Background. Bacterial trans­lo­ca­tion is ­defined as the pas­sage of bac­te­ria ­from the gas­troin­tes­ti­nal ­tract to extrain­tes­ti­nal ­sites most­ly as a con­se­quence of the ­loss of the gut bar­ri­er func­tion. Somatostatin and octre­o­tide, exert­ing ­many inhib­i­to­ry ­effects on the gas­troin­tes­ti­nal ­tract, ­have ­been evi­denced to pro­mote bac­te­ri­al trans­lo­ca­tion.
Methods. Design: experi­men­tal ­research. Setting: University teach­ing Hospital. Interventions: Sixteen ­pigs form­ing the ­study ­group ­received 25 μg/kg of octre­o­tide ­twice a day for ten ­days. A con­trol ­group (n=16) ­received an ­equal vol­ume of ­saline solu­tion for the ­same peri­od. All ani­mals ­were sac­ri­ficed and tis­sue cul­tures ­were ­obtained ­from mes­en­ter­ic ­lymph ­nodes (MLN), liv­er and ­spleen. Portal ­venous and cen­tral ­venous ­blood sam­ples ­were ­also with­drawn for cul­ture.
Results. In the octre­o­tide ­group, cul­tures ­were pos­i­tive for bac­te­ria in 43.7% (7/16) of ani­mals. Viable bac­te­ria ­were recov­ered ­from MLN, liv­er and ­spleen. Portal and system­ic ­blood cul­tures ­showed no ­growth of bac­te­ria. The ­mean val­ue of bac­te­ri­al detec­tion in MLN, liv­er and ­spleen was 196±13 CFU/g, 190±26 CFU/g, and 173±0 CFU/g, respec­tive­ly. P val­ue was not sta­tis­ti­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant. Bacterial trans­lo­ca­tion did not ­occur in the ani­mals of the con­trol ­group. Fisher’s ­exact ­test ­revealed a sta­tis­ti­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ence (p<0.007) ­between the two ­groups regard­ing bac­te­ri­al trans­lo­ca­tion to MLN.
Conclusions. The admin­is­tra­tion of octre­o­tide is fol­lowed by a con­spic­u­ous ­increase in bac­te­ri­al trans­lo­ca­tion in ­pigs. Further clin­i­cal stud­ies are need­ed to dem­on­strate sim­i­lar ­effects on ­humans.