Effect of mild hypothermia on gastrointestinal motility after traumatic brain injury: an experimental study

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of mild hypothermia on gastrointestinal motility after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods A total of 75 adult male SD rats were randomly divided into a sham operation (Sham) group, a traumatic brain injury (TBI) group, and a mild hypothermia (MIH) group according to a random number table. A rat model of TBI was induced by using the electric cortical contusion impactor (eCCI), and then the mild hypothermia intervened for 4 h. The changes of gastric motility, gastric emptying rate, and intestinal propulsive rate in each group were detected. After the animals were sacrificed, the brain, stomach, ileocecal junction, and small intestine tissue 15 cm from ileocecal junction were obtained respectively. HE staining was used to observe its pathological changes. Results After TBI in rats, the stomach obviously dilated, the stomach wall became thinner, gastric mucosa was congested and edematous, part of the mucosa had epithelial shedding, there was bleeding in submucosa, there was lumen expansion and flatulence, intestinal mucosa had hemorrhage and necrosis, intestinal villi desquamated, there was neutrophil infiltration, the gaps of intestinal villi increased, and Goblet cells decreased. The blood vessel count of gastric mucosal congestion and the numbers of intestinal mucosa villi fracture showed that there was no significant difference between the 6 h TBI group and the MIH group (P>0.05). Compared with the TBI group, there were significant differences in the 24, 48 and 72 h MIH groups (P 0.05); the value of gastric motor amplitude of the TBI and MIT groups was higher than that of the sham group (P 0.05). Compared with the TBI group, there were significant differences among the 24, 48 and 72 h MIH groups (P<0.05). Conclusions TBI had effect on rat gastrointestinal mucosa and gastrointestinal motility. The short-term effect after MIH intervention was not significant, but the long-term efficacy was remarkable. Key words: Traumatic brain injury; Gastrointestinal motility disturbances; Mild-induced hypothermia