Influence of ether anaesthesia and oro-gastric intubation on gastric evacuation and small bowel propulsion after...

A model for the simultaneous study of gastric evacuation and small bowel propulsion in the rat is presented. By means of a modification, with both indwelling duodenal and gastric tubes, studies on fully conscious animals were possible. Gastric evacuation and small bowel propulsion were analysed with respect to the effects of ether anesthesia and gastric intubation. The gastric intubation in ether anaesthesia greatly retarded gastric evacuation but left small bowel propulsion unaffected one day after laparotomy. The main factor retarding gastric evacuation appeared to be the oro-gastric intubation procedure. Ether anaesthesia neither affected gastric evacuation nor small bowel propulsion after laparotomy when the test meal was deposited into the stomach and into the duodenum, respectively, via the permanent tubes.