The Effect of Postoperative Ileus on the Gastrointestinal Motility of Rats

Abstract

Postoperative ileus (POI) is defined as a prolonged absence of bowel function which can occur after an abdominal surgical procedure. Due to the complications caused by POI, hospital stays and related costs have been shown to increase. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of POI on the gastrointestinal (GI) motility of rats. Sprague-Dawley rats were given a meal with phenol red and POI was induced via abdominal surgery. The experimental and the naive control group had stomachs and small intestines (SI) isolated and each SI was divided into 7 equal-length pieces. Each created a homogenous mixture and the amount of phenol red was determined. Positive differences for SI 2 to 8 indicated delayed intestinal motility in the experimental group. The stomachs in the experimental group had a significantly larger (p<0.05) amount of meal inside (0.362 ± 0.031 absorbance) compared to the stomachs of the control rats (0.176 ± 0.032 absorbance), suggesting a slower rate of food passage in the experimental group. These findings suggest that surgically induced POI causes a decrease in GI motility in rats. Future studies could focus on the effects of neostigmine on the decrease of POI in rats, for the purpose of eliminating discomfort during survival surgeries in rat models.