Original Article
Copyright ©2013 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 7, 2013; 19(5): 692-705
Published online Feb 7, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i5.692
Comparison of different methods of intestinal obstruction in a rat model
Meng-Lang Yuan, Zheng Yang, Yu-Cheng Li, Lan-Lan Shi, Jia-Ling Guo, Yu-Qin Huang, Xia Kang, Jing-Jing Cheng, Yang Chen, Ting Yu, De-Qi Cao, Huan Pang, Xiao Zhang
Meng-Lang Yuan, Yu-Cheng Li, Jia-Ling Guo, Yu-Qin Huang, Xia Kang, Jing-Jing Cheng, Huan Pang, Department of Clinical Medicine, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu 610081, Sichuan Province, China
Zheng Yang, Xiao Zhang, Lan-Lan Shi, Department of Experimental Technology, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu 610081, Sichuan Province, China
Yang Chen, Ting Yu, Department of Pharmaceutics, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu 610081, Sichuan Province, China
De-Qi Cao, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu 610081, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Yuan ML and Yang Z contributed equally to this work; Yang Z designed the study; Yuan ML, Guo JL, Huang YQ, Kang X and Cheng JJ performed the majority of experiments; Chen Y, Yu T, Li YC and Cao DQ collected and analyzed the data; Yuan ML and Yang Z wrote the manuscript; Yang Z, Shi LL, Pang H and Zhang X reviewed the paper.
Supported by Higher Education Quality Project of Sichuan Province: Innovative Scientific Experiment Project of Sichuan Province, Grant No. SJCX201110; Chengdu Medical College Innovative Scientific Experiment Project, Grant No. CX201220 and CX201115
Correspondence to: Zheng Yang, Experimentalist, Department of Experimental Technology, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu 610081, Sichuan Province, China. yz3191021@yahoo.com.cn
Telephone: +86-28-68289174 Fax: +86-28-68289152
Received: September 25, 2012
Revised: December 24, 2012
Accepted: January 5, 2013
Published online: February 7, 2013
Processing time: 134 Days and 10.4 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To investigate different methods of creating incomplete intestinal obstruction in a rat model and to compare their electrophysiologic, morphologic and histologic characteristics.

METHODS: Rat ileum was partially obstructed by the respective application of: braided silk (penetrated the mesentery and surrounded intestine); half ligation (penetrated directly and ligated 1/2 cross-section of the intestine); wide pipe (6 mm in width, surrounded the intestine); narrow pipe (2 mm in width, surrounded the intestine). A control was also included (no obstruction). Various behavioral and electrophysiologic variables, as well as morphologic and immunohistochemical observations were recorded by blinded investigators at different time points (12, 24, 48, 72 h), including daily general condition, ileal wet weight and circumference, macromorphous and micromorphous intestine, bowel movement capability in vivo and in vitro, slow wave and neural electrical activity, and the number of c-Kit positive interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC).

RESULTS: Despite being of a similar general condition, these methods resulted in different levels of obstruction in each group compared with the control at different time points (12, 24, 48, 72 h). However, these fields of the wide pipe rat showed significantly differences when compared with the other three obstructed groups at 12 to 72 h, including macroscopic and histological presentation, intestinal transit ratio and contractility, circumference and wet weight, amplitude and frequency of nerve electrical discharge and slow wave, and ICC numbers (all P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION: The wide pipe rat method is significantly more reliable and stable than the other methods of obstruction, demonstrating that use of the wide pipe method can be a useful model of incomplete intestinal obstruction.

Keywords: Intestinal obstruction; Model; Comparative study; Electrophysiology; Morphology; Interstitial cells of Cajal