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Effects of Therapeutic Administration of Probiotic VSL#3 on Dextran Sodium Sulfate‐ Induced Colitis

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects as many as 1.6 million Americans every year. This condition is a chronic intestinal disease that includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Probiotic bacteria, including specific species of Lactobacillus and Bacteroides, have previously been shown to have beneficial effects in some intestinal disorders such as pouchitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and some models of IBD. We examined the effects of the probiotic cocktail VSL#3 administration for 3 days of recovery after a 5‐day treatment with 3% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS). Clinical signs of colitis, including weight loss, fecal occult blood, and fecal consistency, were monitored daily during the treatment and recovery period. At the end of the experiment, samples were collected for histological scoring, fecal bacterial analysis by quantitative PCR, and RNA isolation and analysis of colonic pro‐inflammatory cytokine expression by quantitative PCR. As expected, clinical signs of colitis were observed more frequently in DSS treated mice than in non‐DSS treated mice. However, probiotic‐treated colitic mice had clinical signs of disease similar to those of non‐probiotic treated colitic mice. Histological scoring of colitis showed a trend towards decreased histological colitis with VSL#3 treatment compared to colitic mice. Quantitative PCR for the pro‐inflammatory cytokine KC suggested decreased expression in probiotic‐treated mice compared to colitic mice. In conclusion, 3 days of treatment with VSL#3 following acute DSS‐induced colitis did not significantly improve recovery from colitis at the macroscopic level, but may improve inflammation at this time point.