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Updated: Feb 24, 2026
Intestinal Stem Cell Isolation and Culture in a Porcine Model of Segmental Small Intestinal Ischemia
Published on: May 18, 2018
A sequential assessment of the preservation injury in porcine intestines
Mihai Oltean1, Lucian Jiga2, Mats Hellström3
1Pius Branzeu Center for Laparoscopic Surgery and Microsurgery, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania; Department of Surgery, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Background:
Clinical and experimental evidence strongly suggest that ischemia-reperfusion injury after intestinal transplantation has deleterious short- and long-term effects and finding means to reduce ischemia-reperfusion injury is a major research area. The anatomical and physiological similarities between the human and porcine digestive tract favor its use as a preclinical model for translational research. Intriguingly, no systematic appraisal of the development of the intestinal preservation injury in pigs is available.
Materials And Methods:
Intestinal procurement was performed in nine pigs using histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate solution as preservation fluid. Ileal biopsies were obtained after 8, 14, and 24 h of static cold storage (SCS), and the preservation injury was assessed morphologically (Chiu score) as well as on the molecular level. Tight junction (zonula occludens, claudin-3 and 4, tricellulin, and occludin) and adherens junctions (E-cadherin) proteins were studied using immunofluorescence and Western blot.
Results:
Eight hours of SCS induced minimal mucosal changes (Chiu grade 1) that advanced to significant subepithelial edema (Chiu grade 3) after 24 h; progressive Goblet cell depletion was also noted. Apoptosis (studied by cleaved caspase-3 staining significantly increased after 24 h of SCS. Significant molecular changes with decreasing expression of zonula occludens, tricellulin, and occludin were evident already after 8 h of SCS and continuously worsened. Claudin-3 and Claudin-4 and E-cadherin expression remained relatively unaltered during SCS.
Conclusions:
Important molecular alterations precede histologic changes during SCS of the porcine intestine and may be used as more sensitive injury markers than histologic changes in intestinal ischemia and transplantation.
