Clinical, Biological, and Histological Follow-up during Intestinal Adaptation after Small-Bowel Resection in the Dog

Abstract

Massive resections of the intestine including the ileocecal valve are associated with a high mortality. This model of short bowel in the dog consists of an extensive small-bowel resection (remaining jejunum 25 cm) associated with colectomy. Small-bowel adaptation is evidenced by increases of crypt depth (p = 0.02) and villus height (p = 0.001) in animals fed per os. Plasma glutamine levels decrease after surgery, while there is a significant decrease of plasma alanine levels (p < 0.001). This model should allow to pursue investigations on the importance of glutamine as an essential fuel for intestinal mucosa regeneration.

No Effect of Bolus Glutamine Supplementation on the Postresectional Adaptation of Small Bowel Mucosa in Rats Receiving Chow ad libitum

“…The results of this study demonstrate that supplementation of glutamine by bolus had no apparent beneficial effects on the intestinal adaptation after massive intestinal resection, since it did not improve the intestinal mucosa weight, ileal DNA, RNA, protein concentrations, sucrose activity, or the intestinal morphology when compared to glycine or saline. The adaptive process was similar to previous resection studies and all markers of intestinal adaptation were significantly enhanced 10 days after resection [15, 16]. …”

Comparison of rejection rate and functional outcome of small bowel transplantation alone or in conjunction with the ileocecal valve versus combined small and large bowel transplantation

“…In conclusion, since the small bowel has the ability to increase its absorptive area over time [16], our study in a pre‐clinical model suggests that transplanting the small bowel alone and supporting the recipients in the initial post‐operative period may be preferable to risking higher rejection and contamination rates seen when transplanting the ileocecal valve or the colon.…”