Inulin Effect on Intestinal Mucus-secreting Cells

Maintaining the normal functioning of mucin-secreting cells is essential for the health of gastrointestinal tract mucosa, with any modifications of the mucus barrier being followed by mucosal morpho-functional alterations (Petrou and Crouzier, 2018). One of the prebiotics known for its beneficial effects on the digestive system is inulin, a plant-derived fructan, widely used in complementary medicine. In this respect, our study aimed to evaluate the possible modifications to intestinal mucosa structure and functions induced by long-term oral inulin administration. During the 8-week study, groups of 8 Wistar rats (n = 4/sex) received normal saline solution (control), 625, and 1250 mg/kg/bw of inulin powder. Body weight and feed consumption were recorded daily. On day 29 an interim sacrifice was performed (n = 4/group). The remaining animals continued to receive treatment until day 56. Necropsy examination, histological (Goldner's trichrome staining), and histochemical (AB-PAS reaction) analysis of digestive system organs were performed on both interim and terminal sacrifices, for all the animals included in the study. The resulting histological and histochemical findings were consistent and confirmed that direct contact between the prebiotic and intestine mucosa did not cause any irritations, inflammations or functional alterations.