Effect of improved absorption on development of jejunoileal bypass-induced liver dysfunction in rats

Jejunoileal bypasses were performed in rats to determine the effect of improved absorption on the development of liver dysfunction occurring after this procedure. Several parameters of liver function were measured in rats 7 weeks after both the standard 85% small-bowel bypass and an 80% bypass in which an extra 5 cm of intact bowel was retained. Animals having undergone 80% bypass had a lesser degree of lowering of serum protein and triglyceride levels, hepatic cytochrome P-450 content, and hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase activity than did the animals undergoing 85% bypass. Abnormalities found in 85% bypass animals were only partially reproduced by reducing food intake in another group of 80% bypassed animals. These findings emphasize the importance of nutritional factors in the etiology of bypass-induced liver disease and militate against toxin production in the defunctionalized bowel as the sole cause of liver dysfunction following bypass.