ABSTRACT

This surgical manipulation is similar to the in situ isolation of the intestinal loop explained in Chapter 18. The technique allows one to simultaneously obtain data from the blood compartment and from the lumen of the isolated intestine. Comparable to the previously mentioned process, in this model, it is not isolated from the innervation of the area as well as the action of local factors from adjacent tissues. However, the fact that circulation is isolated in a perfusion process makes the intestine area inaccessible to the humoral systemic factors. As a consequence, possible metabolic regulations performed by these factors cannot be studied. One of the advantages of this model is that the concentration of substances in the intestinal lumen and in the buffer of perfusion can be measured simultaneously. This allows one to make a comparison of concentrations of substances in both compartments, inferring about their transportation mechanisms, which show associations to membranes or degradation while passing through the mucosa.