title: Roles of nucleosides and nucleotide mixture in small bowel transplantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the effect of nucleosides (NSs) and nucleotides (NTs) on the intestine and intestinal graft in a model of syngenic small bowel transplantation, with the fetal rat intestine as a graft.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two-centimeter jejunal segments from Lewis rats at 19 d of gestation were transplanted into the abdominal walls of 5-wk-old Lewis rats by using a non-vascular anastomotic technique. After transplantation, the rats were assigned to one of two groups: group 1 did not receive NS or NT and group 2 was supplemented with NS and NT. The grafts and graft recipients were examined morphologically 14 d after transplantation according to conventional histologic and immunohistochemical studies of neurons and smooth muscles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Group 1 gained little body weight, even though both groups received similar amounts of food. The grafts in group 1 showed poor development in length, diameter, and wet weight. They also showed poor villi development, abnormalities in nerve distribution, and degeneration of muscle layer structure on histologic and immunohistochemical studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that NS and NT are essential nutrients for intestinal growth and maintenance of structures in fetal small bowel transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. ogita@pedsurg.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogita
authors.forename: Sachiyo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suita
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taguchi
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamanouchi
authors.forename: Kouji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Masumoto
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000637:transplantation*; D009705:Nucleosides / Q000502:physiology*; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew
chemical_list: D009705:Nucleosides; D009711:Nucleotides