PRESERVATION OF POSTPRANDIAL INTESTINAL HYPEREMIC RESPONSE AFTER SMALL-BOWEL TRANSPLANTATION

Postprandial intestinal hyperemia (PIH) is a normal physiological phen omenon and is thought to accommodate the increased intestinal metaboli c demand during food digestion. Lack of such a response could lead to malabsorption. The purpose of this study was to determine whether tran splanted intestine retains the ability to mediate PIH. Nineteen rats w ith syngeneic orthotopic small bowel transplantation (SBT) and 13 norm al controls were further divided into two subgroups to receive gastric gavage of either 2 mL of Ensure Plus (EP) high-calorie liquid nutriti on or 2 mL of normal saline. Intestinal blood flow was determined befo re, and 20 and 45 minutes after the gavage, employing a colored micros phere technique. The results showed that basal blood flow to the trans planted intestine (56.7 +/- 26.7 mL/min/100 g) was similar to that of normal intestine (64.2 +/- 35.8 mL/min/100 g; P > .1). EP feeding elic ited a marked increase in intestinal blood flow (PIH phenomenon) in bo th normal and SET animals. The magnitudes of flow increase were simila r for the two groups (249 +/- 99% versus 241 +/- 76% of baseline 45 mi nutes after EP feeding in the normal and transplanted intestine, respe ctively; P > .1). The results indicate that hyperemic response to feed ing is normal in syngeneic orthotopic SET. Copyright (C) 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company