Pancreatic and intestinal growth-promoting effect of truncal vagotomy in the rat.

The effect of chronic subdiaphragmatic truncal vagotomy was investigated on body weight gain, food intake pattern, and also on intestinal and pancreatic growth, in adult rats. Two sham-operated groups, the one fed ad libitum, the other pair-fed with the vagotomized rats, served as controls. Body weight of vagotomized rats decreased in the first 5 postoperative days, due to hypophagia. Then, body weight increased as food intake reached the presurgery level. The rats were killed after 34 days of vagotomy. A moderate pancreatic and intestinal hypertrophy was observed in the vagotomized rats, while the tissue weight of and the DNA and protein contents in the colon and the oxyntic and antral areas of the stomach did not change compared to controls. The mechanism of the intestinal and pancreatic hypertrophy is unknown; several humoral and nervous factors may be involved in it.