Catheterization of Intestinal Loops in Ruminants

The intestine is a complex structure that is involved not only in absorption of nutrients, but also acts as a barrier between the individual and the outside world. As such, the intestine plays a pivotal role in immunosurveillance and protection from enteric pathogens. Investigating intestinal physiology and immunology commonly employs 'intestinal loops' as an experimental model. The majority of these loop models are non-recovery surgical procedures that study short-term (<24 hr) changes in the intestine (1-3). We previously created a recovery intestinal loop model to specifically measure long-term (<6 mo) immunological changes in the intestine of sheep following exposure to vaccines, adjuvants, and viruses (4). This procedure localized treatments to a specific 'loop', allowing us to sample this area of the intestine. A significant drawback of this method is the single window of opportunity to administer treatments (i.e. at the time of surgery). Furthermore, samples of both the intestinal mucosa and luminal contents can only be taken at the termination of the project. Other salient limitations of the above model are that the surgical manipulation and requisite post-operative measures (e.g. administration of antibiotics and analgesics) can directly affect the treatment itself and/or alter immune function, thereby confounding results. Therefore, we modified our intestinal loop model by inserting long-term catheters into the loops. Sheep recover fully from the procedure, and are unaffected by the exteriorized catheters. Notably, the establishment of catheters in loops allows us to introduce multiple treatments over an extended interval, following recovery from surgery and clearance of drugs administered during surgery and the post-operative period.