Ex vivo vascular perfusion of the isolated rat small bowel. Importance of the intestinal brush border enzyme-release in basal conditions.

The vascular perfusion of the whole isolated intestine of the rat with homologous non-diluted blood is compared with classical in vivo experiments. During a 2 1/2-hour perfusion procedure no significant difference was noted between the two experimental schedules as far as haemodynamic, histological, mechanical and/or electrical activities of the gut are concerned. However, striking changes in the intestinal brush border enzyme output within the lumen appear between ex vivo and in vivo experiments. The early increase of intraluminal intestinal sucrase, already after the 95th min of perfusion indicate clearly the existence of a subcellular damage even not detectable by other tests of viability. Therefore, it is suggested that release of brush border enzymes might represent an interesting criterion of viability of in vitro or ex vivo preparations.