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Updated: Jun 30, 2026
Functional Assessment of Intestinal Motility and Gut Wall Inflammation in Rodents: Analyses in a Standardized Model of Intestinal Manipulation
Published on: September 11, 2012
Evaluation by computerized morphometry of histopathological alterations of the colon wall in segments with and
Marcos Vieira de Sousa1, Denise Gonçalves Priolli, Adriana Valim Portes
1USF, Bragança Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Purpose:
To evaluate histopathological alterations of the colon wall in segments with and without intestinal transit, by computer-assisted imaging, and to correlate these with the length of time diversion.
Methods:
Thirty male Wistar rats were subjected to intestinal transit diversion by a proximal colostomy and distal mucosa fistula. The animals were divided into three experimental groups according to how long after the initial surgical procedure they were sacrificed: six, twelve and eighteen weeks. Colon segments with and without transit were subjected to histopathological study. The variables colon crypt length, mucosal ulceration, muscle layer thickness of the muscularis mucosa, submucosa and muscularis propria, vascular congestion, number of caliciform cells, inflammatory grade and degree of inflammation, comparing the two colon segments in the different experimental groups were studied. Intestinal crypt length, muscle layer thickness of the mucosa, submucosa and muscularis propria and caliciform cells were measured by computer-assisted imaging method. Mean equality, variance analysis and correlation tests were used in the statistical analysis, and the significance level was set at 5%.
Results:
Comparison between segments with and without transit showed that the latter presented reduced length of colon crypts and increased muscle layer thickness of the muscularis mucosa, submucosa and muscularis propria. There were greater quantities of ulceration of the mucosal and greater degree of inflammation with increasing time without transit. Mucosal ulceration, submucosal vascular congestion, increased thickness of the submucosal and muscularis propria layers, presence of caliciform cells, inflammatory infiltrate and inflammatory grade correlated significantly with the length of time without transit.
Conclusions:
Histological alterations occurred in all layers of the colon wall, in the segments without intestinal transit. Ulcerations in the intestinal mucosa, increased number of caliciform cells, greater vascular congestion of the submucosal layer and inflammatory reaction were related to increasing length of time without transit.
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