Mucosal morphogenesis and cytodifferentiation in fetal porcine small intestine

Abstract

The pattern of fetal porcine small intestinal development is similar to that reported for fetal human small intestine. Villus development and cytodifferentiation occur at similar relative times in gestation when compared to the human. These observations support the use of the fetal pig as a model for investigations of human small intestinal development.

Regulation of ornithine aminotransferase gene expression and activity by all-transretinoic acid in Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells

“…Although this suggests that OAT is important during fetal small intestinal development, the mechanism(s) by which these changes are regulated is not understood. The mucosa of the fetal pig small intestine begins morphological and functional differentiation early in gestation [22][23][24]. During this same time, OAT mRNA expression becomes compartmentalized within the epithelium, changing from expression throughout the epithelium to being expressed primarily in the differentiated villus enterocytes [8].…”

Porcine models of digestive disease: the future of large animal translational research

“…Additionally, pigs, like humans, are true omnivores, whereas other potential mammalian models such as dogs, cats, ruminants, rabbits and rodents have evolutionarily developed alternative digestive strategies (30, 70). Furthermore, pigs and humans have similar neonatal gut development and gastrointestinal immunologic responses to insult (30, 70, 71). As far as differences in gastrointestinal tract anatomy, the porcine cecum is relatively large and clearly delineated as compared to the human cecum, and the porcine colon is orientated in a spiral fashion (Figure 1) (30).…”

Arginine deficiency in preterm infants: Biochemical mechanisms and nutritional implications

“…In addition, amino acid composition is similar between the fetal pig and the human fetus [57]. Although there are several basic differences in pregnancy between pigs and humans, which include time of implantation, type of placentation, gestational length, and number of offspring [61], intestinal villus development and cytodifferentiation in fetal pigs occur at relative times in gestation similar to those in the human fetus [63]. Thus, the pig has been used extensively as an animal model for studying prenatal and postnatal intestinal development and metabolism of the human [20,64,65].…”