Due to an
increasing incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), as well as its
associated mortality and long-term complications seen in surviving patients,
the main focus of research in NEC has shifted to the prevention and treatment
of the disease. The hypothesis of this work is that the strain Lactobacillus salivarius LPLM-O1 can
decrease the intestinal injuries in a model of induced NEC. 26 newborn
Sprague-Dawley pups were used in this study and randomized in three groups:
control group (n = 6), which were fed with infant formula (Similac NeosureTM,
Abbott); probiotic group (n = 10), which were fed with the same infant formula
but fortified with 109 colony-forming units (CFU) of Lactobacillus salivarius LPLM-O1, and
the NEC-induced group (n = 10). Each group was fed with 100 μl of food formula
every three hours, using a modified syringe. The probiotic and NEC groups were
exposed to asphyxia- and cold-induced stress to develop experimental NEC. At
the end of the experiment (96 hrs), animals were sacrificed, and their small
intestines were carefully removed and evaluated for typical signs of NEC,
microbiological count and histological analyses. The histological analysis of
the NEC-induced group showed transmural necrosis
(grade 4); in the probiotic group, the grade was comparatively lower (grade 2).
Survival ratewas higher in the probiotic group (83%) than in the
NEC-induced group (46%); however, the difference
in not statistically significant (p = 0.14). Lactic acid bacteria counts were
higher in the probiotic group than in the NEC-induced group (8.4 × 108 and 6.1 × 107 CFU/intestine tissue gram, respectively). According to these results, the model
of artificial induction of NEC was effectively establishedin all pups,
and the probiotic strain slightly decreases the injuries’ grade in newborn
pups.