Bidirectional small intestinal permeability changes to different-sized molecules after HCl-induced injury in the rat

A rat model was developed to assess bidirectional passage of macromolecules and low-molecular-weight markers across the intestinal barrier in intact and injured mucosa. Isolated in situ loops of distal small intestine were luminally perfused for 30 min with saline as control or HCI (pH 2.0) to induce an acute injury. The lumen-to-blood passage was followed during perfusion with bovine serum albumin, [14C]mannitol, and sodium fluorescein. Intravenously administered sodium fluorescein and endogenous serum albumin were used as blood-to-lumen markers. Acid exposure resulted in severe injury of the villi tips, with significantly increased lumen-to-blood passage of all markers compared with that of intact mucosa. Moreover, blood-to-lumen passage of rat serum albumin increased after the injury, while that of sodium fluorescein did not. The acid induced injury impaired the intestinal barrier function with an increased marker passage, where the macromolecules were more sensitive markers of the altered barrier function than low-molecular-weight markers.