The effect of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) on bacterial translocation in the splenectomized rat.

Background/Aims: We created a study group in order to investigate the effects of splenectomy and filgrastim. Filgrastin is an immunomodulator granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), that affects bacterial translocation. Materials and Methods: We created 3 study groups with 30 male Sprague-Dawley rats; the first group included sham splenectomy, the second group was splenectomy, and the third group was splenectomy+ filgrastim group. Results: The mean bacterial colony count of the cecum were 2.5x10 9 in group 1, 1.2x10 10 in group 2 and 3.5x10 9 in group 3. The differences between these groups were accepted as statistically significant. The mean counts of the terminal ileum were 1.1x10 9 in group 1, 5.5x10 10 in group 2 and 2.5x10 10 in group 3. The p values of group 1-2 were 0.036 (statistically significant) and 0.123 in groups 2-3) were not statistically significant. The mean counts of the liver were 0.2x10 4 , 1x10 10 and 3.4x10 5 , respectively. In comparison of the groups the p values of the first and last 2 groups were found to be 0.047 (statistically significant). The mean counts of the mesenteric lymph node were 0.7x10 3 , 1x10 10 and 0.9x10 6 respectively. The p values were 0.343 for the first and the last 2 groups both. As they were above 0.05, they were not statistically significant. The degrees of liver Kupffer cell hyperplasia were (+) 40%, (+ +) 50% and (+ + +) 10% (group 1), (+) 10%, (++) 40% and (+++) 50% (group 2), (++) 60% and (+ + +) 40% (group 3) (p =0.0039). The rates of the absence of pathology in mesenteric lymph nodes were 70% (group 1), 90% (group 2) and 100% (group 3) (p=0.049). These findings were statistically significant. Conclusions: We found that splenectomy has activated the whole predisposing factors of bacterial translocation and created the latter itself In addition, we showed that filgrastim, a recently widespread used G-CSF, decreases bacterial translocation significantly.