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Intramucosal pH and oxygen extraction in the gastrointestinal tract after major liver resection in rats
1Department of Surgery, Lund University, Sweden.
Objective:
To assess the influence of 70% and 90% liver resection on oxygen extraction and intramucosal and intraluminal pH in the gastrointestinal tract in rats.
Design:
Random control trial.
Material:
63 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats.
Interventions:
Laparotomy with separation of liver from surrounding tissue (sham operation), 70% hepatectomy, or 90% hepatectomy (n = 21 in each group). At 1, 2, and 4 hours (n = 7/timepoint), the animals in each of the three groups had the following variables studied: intestinal oxygen delivery; blood gas analysis of arterial, caval, and portal venous blood; and direct intraluminal pH together with indirect measurements of intramucosal pH of the gastrointestinal tract.
Results:
There was a temporary increase in the pH of arterial blood two hours after 70% hepatectomy. There was a reduction in intramucosal pH after 90% hepatectomy which started two hours after operation and became significant at four hours. The intraluminal pH of the gastrointestinal tract was increased two and four hours after both 70% and 90% hepatectomy, compared with the sham operated group. Systemic oxygen extraction increased immediately after hepatectomy. Gastrointestinal oxygen extraction increased gradually in the rats that had undergone 70% hepatectomy, but was reduced in those subjected to 90% hepatectomy.
Conclusions:
Major liver resection induces alterations in both systemic and gut physiology. These may go some way towards explaining the disturbances in enteric bacterial ecology, the increase in bacterial adherence on the surface of the intestine, and the translocation of bacteria from the gut, after major liver resection in rats.