Interdigestive contractions of the gallbladder in rabbits: the real time ultrasonographical studies

There are no reports concerning the ultrasonographical examination of gallbladder contractility in rabbits. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the dynamics of gallbladder contractions in 7 rabbits. Animals were fasted 24 h before the experiments lasting 3-5 h. Ultrasonographical examinations were performed every 10 min using USG 220 SLC machine. The sectorial ultrasound 3.5 MHz was placed in the right subcostal region. The maximal longitudinal gallbladder scans were obtained and the gallbladder volume was estimated using 3 methods. The highest values were obtained with the method approximating the gallbladder shape to ellipsoid. The second method approximating gallbladder shape to the barrel provided intermediate results and the lowest results were obtained with the sum-of-cylinders method. The overall mean of interdigestive gallbladder volume using the latter method was 1.34 +/- 0.10 ml. Peak and interpeak values were 2.23 +/- 0.33 and 0.99 +/- 0.18 ml, respectively, p < 0.01. The mean peak distance was 69.6 +/- 7.4 min approximately remaining in concert with the reported MMC intervals in rabbits. It is concluded that the rabbit model for gallbladder ultrasonography may be useful for the study of gallbladder dynamics.