Fetal intestinal transplantation: a new therapeutic approach in short-bowel syndrome

Intraperitoneally transplanted fetal rat intestine can be anastomosed to the intestine of the host after 4 weeks of maturation. In syngeneic transplant combinations morphological findings as well as functional parameters suggest that the intestinal transplant might provide a substitute for normal intestinal tissue. Four weeks after fetal intestinal transplantation in adult Lewis rats we resected the total small bowel of the host and interposed the matured transplant. Resection of total small bowel without transplant interposition led to a decline of body weight in control animals but was prevented in the transplanted group. After total small bowel resection and cecectomy (a lethal resection in the control group) we found a 40% (4/10) survival in the group in which the transplant had been anastomosed to the remaining bowel.