Intraperitoneal fetal small bowel transplantation as therapy for the short bowel syndrome: an animal experimental study.

After demonstration of the morphologic integrity of fetal rat intestinal transplant and in vitro evidence of both digestive and resorptive function in the transplanted small bowel, in another experimental approach we tried to assess intestinal function in vivo. In this experiment, fetal intestinal grafts were placed in host animals and allowed to mature for 4 weeks. Then we resected the whole small bowel of the host from the ligament of Treitz to the ileo-cecal valve, afterwards interposing the matured fetal intestinal segment. A control group of animals (their small bowels were resected but they received no graft replacement) showed massive weight loss. The animals with fetal small bowel transplant replacement thrived. This shows that in the rat model fetal small bowel, previously transplanted into a host, can be an actual functioning substitute for normal small bowel.