LAUSR

Many patients with ulcerative colitis suffer from malnutrition and intestinal flora disorders, which affect the postoperative intestinal barrier function of the ileal pouch. This study aimed to investigate the effects of enteral nutrition combined with probiotics after ileal pouch–anal anastomosis in rats. Male Sprague–Dawley rats underent ileal pouch–anal anastomosis and were randomly assigned to a control group (standard rat chow), enteral nutrition group (short-peptide enteral nutrition), or probiotic nutrition group (short-peptide enteral nutrition and Lactobacillus acidophilus ). The primary outcomes were a histological score and occludin levels in the ileal pouch. The secondary outcomes were nutritional status and fecal flora distribution. The histological scores in the control group were significantly higher than in the enteral nutrition and probiotic nutrition groups ( P  < 0.05), while occludin levels were significantly lower in the controls compared with the other two groups ( P  < 0.05). Serum total protein, albumin, transthyretin, and transferrin levels were significantly higher in the probiotic nutrition group, followed by the enteral nutrition and control groups (all P  < 0.05). Total fecal flora, and Gram-positive and Gram-negative rods differed significantly among the groups (all P  < 0.05), but there were no significant differences in Gram-positive or Gram-negative cocci (all P  > 0.05). Enteral nutrition combined with probiotics can effectively protect the intestinal barrier function of the ileal pouch in rats, possibly via the stable distribution of the intestinal flora and good nutritional status.