Experimental small bowel transplantation using newborn intestine in rats: I. Lipid absorption restored after transplantation of nonvascularized graft.
OBJECTIVE
Utilizing the characters of neovascularized activity of newborn organs, the authors developed a rat model of small bowel transplantation with a free graft of newborn intestine into the recipient's omentum.


METHODS
Segmental intestine from newborn rats were grafted into the omentum without vascular anastomosis in a syngeneic combination (n = 19). The transplanted intestine was examined morphologically and electrophysiologically 4 weeks after grafting. Then, recipients' small intestine was totally substituted by the transplanted newborn intestine, and recipients' survival was recorded after orthotopical reconstruction. During the experimental periods, feces of these rats were collected, and total lipid excretion was measured. The short-gut rats, whose small bowel was totally resected, served as a control (n = 12).


RESULTS
Thirteen of 19 grafts (68.4%) were judged as a histologically mature intestine. They showed typical slow waves that were identical to those of native small intestine. After all of the mature grafts were interposed, six recipients (46.2%) survived longer than 15 weeks. Control short gut animals severely lost weight and died except for one.


CONCLUSIONS
Newborn intestinal transplantation could restore severe weight loss in the short-gut rats and save them.
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Jichi Medical School, Tochigi, Japan.
H
H
Uchida
T
T
Yoshida
E
E
Kobayashi
K
K
Mizuta
A
A
Fujimura
M
M
Miyata
H
H
Kawarasaki
K
K
Hashizume
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000637:transplantation*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008297:Male; D009852:Omentum / Q000601:surgery; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew