Improvement and evaluation of the method of establishing necrotizing enterocolitis in neonatal rats

  Objective To clarify a simple and effective NEC modeling method by improving and comparing the methods for establishing necrotizing enterocolitis animal models commonly used at home and abroad.

   Method Newborn SD rats within 2 hours of birth were randomly divided into 5 groups, 10 in the control group and 20 in each group in the experimental group. Group A and the surrogate mouse were breast-fed in the same cage without any intervention; group B artificial feeding + hypoxia cold stimulation + (lipopolysaccharide) LPS gavage (5mg/kg body weight); group C artificial feeding + hypoxia Cold stimulation + LPS gavage (10mg/kg); group D artificial feeding + hypoxia cold stimulation + LPS intraperitoneal injection (2mg/kg); E group artificial feeding + hypoxia cold stimulation + LPS intraperitoneal injection (5mg/kg). Observe the activity status and body mass changes of newborn rats daily. After the experiment, the small intestine tissue was taken for hematoxylin-eosin staining to evaluate the degree of pathological damage of the small intestine; the tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-α) level in the small intestine tissue was detected.

  Result The newborn rats in the experimental group showed varying degrees of reduced activity, abdominal distension, diarrhea, black stool, and weight loss. The pathological score showed that the experimental group had significantly higher pathological damage scores than the control group (P<0.05). The LPS intraperitoneal injection group (D, E) has a higher incidence of NEC than the oral administration group (B, C) (P<0.05), but the LPS high-dose (5mg/kg) intraperitoneal injection group is more non-NEC related than other groups The fatality rate increased significantly (P<0.05).

   Conclusion The method of establishing NEC based on artificial feeding and hypoxic cold stimulation combined with low-dose LPS (2mg/kg) intraperitoneal injection is more maneuverable and stable.