Effect of Lactobacillus plantarum ACTT 8014 on 5‑fluorouracil induced intestinal mucositis in Wistar rats

Abstract

Some previous studies reported that probiotics might decrease the severity of chemotherapy-induced mucositis. This study assessed the potential protective effect of Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 8014 on 5-fluo- rouracil (5-FU) induced intestinal mucositis in the Wistar rats. The Crl:WI rats were divided into two groups of six animals (F, L) and one group of 5 animals (M). Group L received for 9 days 3.32x109 CFU/ml of Lactobacillus plantarum orally. In the 7th day of the experiment 400 mg of 5-FU was administered intraperitoneally in groups L and F. Group M received only the vehicles. All animals were sacrificed in the 9th day. Eleven histological characteristics of mucositis were quantified from 0 (normal) to 3 (severe) for duodenum, jejunum and colon. Semiquantitative grades measured Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) immunoposi- tive cells. The independent groups were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney U test, with a Bonferroni correction for alpha (P