The Effect of Vagotomy and Pyloroplasty on the Gastrointestinal Mucosa of the Rat

Abstract

Five weeks after truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty in rats, there was a trend towards a reduction in mucosal thickness of the stomach and small intestine compared with sham-operated animals. The reduction, however, was only significant in the corpus mucosa of the stomach (P = 0.02). Epithelial cell proliferation was reduced in the stomach compared with the sham-operated rats. The reduction, however, was only significant in the pyloric mucosa (P < 0.01). In the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, on the other hand. cell proliferation was increased compared with the sham-operated animals. In the jejenum the increase was highly significant (P < 0.01).