ABSTRACT
Patients with pancreatic insufficiency secondary to extensive resection or to chronic pancreatitis preent steatorrhea as a complication. This is attributed to the absence of pancreatic enzymes in the intestinal lumen, lack of chyme digestion, and malabsorption syndrome. Several factors such as enteric hormones and intestinal microbiota may after the digestive motor pattern. The enteric microbiota in particular may induce nutrient malabsorption. In order to evaluate gastrointestinal flora and motility in pancreatic insufficiency, a study was conducted on 10 female Holtzman rats divided into two groups: A (n=5), submitted to corpocaudal pancreatectomy (80 per cent), and B (n=5) not submitted to any surgical procedure. Twenty-one days after surgery, the animals were sacrificed and jejunal wash samples were collected for the study of aerobic bacteria, blood samples were collected for biochemical measurements, and seromuscular sections of the gastric fundus and of the jejunum were obtained for an in vitro motor study. The results obtained demonstrated that there was no significant difference between groups in terms of bacteriologic or biochemical parameters, or in terms of gastric motor function. However, there was a significant increase in affinity for acetylcholine and in maximum contraction in the jejunal loops of pancreatectomized animals. In conclusion, corpocaudal pancreatectomy (80 per cent) induced significant motor alterations in the jejunum, and these alterations may be consistent with the steatorrhea of patients with pancreatic insufficiency.