Early and long term effects of a model of intestinal autotransplantation on intestinal motor patterns.

The short and long term effects of a model of orthotopic jejunoileal autotransplantation on intestinal motility were studied in a model of four dogs that underwent autotransplantation of the entire jejunoileum. Serosal electrodes were placed to record intestinal motility patterns. Each dog was studied during fasting and after feeding early (two to six weeks) and late (14 to 17 weeks) after jejunoileal autotransplantation. During fasting, both the innervated duodenum and the autotransplanted jejunoileum showed the characteristic migrating motor complex (MMC) early after this model of transplantation, but the MMC in the two regions lacked temporal coordination. Late after transplantation, temporal reassociation of the MMC in the duodenum and jejunoileum occurred. Feeding a small meal (50 grams of liver) inhibited the MMC in the duodenum, but not in the jejunoileum either early or late after transplantation. These observations suggest that characteristic cyclic fasting motility patterns persist after this model of small intestinal transplantation and are dissociated temporally between innervated and transplanted regions for at least eight weeks, but then reassociate with time (greater than three months). Feeding a small meal did not induce a postprandial motor pattern in the transplanted region. The effects of these changes in motility on intestinal function remain unknown.