Effect of a model of canine jejunoileal orthotopic autotransplantation on jejunal and ileal transport of water and electrolytes

Canine jejunoileal transplantation induces an early profuse watery diarrhea of uncertain etiology. Our aim was to determine the temporal effects of a canine model of jejunoileal autotransplantation (a model devoid of confounding effects of ischemia-reperfusion or immune rejection) on basal jejunal and ileal absorption of water and electrolytes to determine if impaired absorption is responsible for the diarrhea. Our hypothesis was that net absorption of water and electrolytes in an enterically isolated loop would decrease after jejunoileal transplantation. Four groups of dogs (N ≥ 6) were prepared with 80-cm modified Thiry-Vella loops: group I, neurally intact jejunum; group II, autotransplanted jejunum; group III, neurally intact ileum; and group IV, autotransplanted ileum. The loops were perfused for 3 hr with 150 mM NaCl at 3 ml/min under fasted conditions; transit time through the loop was determined by bolus of a nonabsorbable marker. Dogs were studied on three separate days at one, two, eight, and nine weeks postoperatively. Net absorptive fluxes of water and electrolytes and transit times were similar (P>0.05) between neurally intact and autotransplant groups (group I vs II and group III vs IV) at each time point. Ileal loops absorbed more than jejunal loops, and transit was slower in ileal loops (each P<0.05). Our findings suggest that, despite the obligate disruption of extrinsic innervation, enteric (intrinsic) neural continuity, and lymphatic drainage that accompanies this canine model of jejunoileal autotransplantation, net basal absorptive function of water and electrolytes during the fasted state was not decreased nor was transit altered either in jejunum or ileum. These findings have important implications for clinical small intestinal transplantation in man.