Functional alterations in the dog colon mucosa following temporary ischaemia

Segments of dog colon were subjected to 1 h of total ischaemia. In one experimental group, the colon was not touched before the trauma; in another, it was rinsed out before the intervention; while in a third, it was perfused with Krebs bicarbonate buffer during injury. In all groups, the mucosa after the trauma is the site of net movement of water, sodium and chloride towards the lumen, while glucose absorption is greatly reduced. The accumulation of amino acid and sugar in vitro by samples of ischaemic mucosa is reduced but not abolished. The capacity for organic solute transport in vitro is greater in samples removed after the perfusion than in specimens excised immediately after the end of the ischaemia. According to the test in vitro, the mucosa can be protected from the deleterious effects of the ischaemia by intraluminal perfusion during the ischaemia. Immediately after 1 h of ischaemia, slight alterations in the histological structure of some villi were observed under the light microscope in occasional animals, particularly when the colon was not rinsed out before the ischaemia.