SMALL BOWEL MORPHOLOGY AND EPITHELIAL PROLIFERATION IN INTRAVENOUSLY ALIMENTED RABBITS

Google Scholar
  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 82  (5) , 613-620
Abstract
I.v. alimentation of experimental animals was associated with an attenuation of the small bowel mucosa. To determine whether alterations in epithelial renewal accompany the morphological changes, cell proliferation and the light microscopic and EM appearance of the small bowel was studied in i.v. and orally alimented rabbits. After 10 days of either i.v. or oral alimentation, 3H-thymidine was given i.v. to all animals to label proliferating cells, and 1 h later sections of duodenum, upper jejunum and distal ileum were taken for autoradiography, light microscopy and EM. I.v. alimentation was accompanied by significant reductions in epithelial cell proliferation and mucosal thickness in the proximal small bowel. The density of goblet cells was greater in the duodenum and jejunum, but less in the ileum, of i.v. alimented rabbits than in corresponding areas of the oral controls. Ultrastructural changes in the villous absorptive cells of i.v. alimented rabbits, such as lengthened microvilli and increased numbers of multivesicular bodies, suggested that epithelial migration also be showed during i.v. alimentation.