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A Novel Rabbit Model for Benign Biliary Stricture Formation and the Effects of Medication Infusions on Stricture Formation

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A Correction to this article was published on 31 October 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

Background

Benign biliary stricture (BBS) is highly refractory. Currently, there is no effective strategy for prevention of BBS recurrence. The aim of this study is to establish a novel BBS rabbit model and to investigate the efficacy of biliary infusion with anti-proliferative medications for treating BBS.

Method

A BBS model was established via surgical injury and biliary infection. The biliary infusion tube was inserted into the common bile duct via the stump of cystic duct after cholecystectomy. Biliary infusions with Rapamycin, Pirfenidone and Fasudil were performed daily during the 4 weeks following the surgery. The wall thickness and luminal area of the bile duct were assessed.

Results

All rabbits formed BBS after surgery. The mortality rate was 13% (8/60) and tube withdrawal rate was 4% (2/48). The thickness of the bile duct wall was significantly reduced; whereas the luminal area of the bile duct was dramatically enlarged in the Rapamycin or the Pirfenidone treated group, compared to the saline treated group. Furthermore, the local treatment significantly decreased the levels of proliferation makers, including PCNA, Collagen I and fibrogenic mediators, including ACTA2 and TGF-beta.

Conclusion

We have established a novel animal model for BBS formation. We have further demonstrated that biliary infusion with Rapamycin or Pirfenidone limits the biliary strictures through inhibiting the proliferation of the bile duct wall in this model. This may represent a new avenue for preventing biliary restenosis.

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Change history

  • 31 October 2018

    The original version of the article unfortunately contained an error in funding information. This has been corrected with this erratum.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the China Scholarship Council for funding Ph.D. fellowships to Q.Y. (201706240113). We deeply appreciate the help of language revision by Lennart V. D. Velden, and kind suggestions for improving figures by Xumin Ou.

Funding

This research was supported by the Science and Technology Support Project of Sichuan Province (Nos. 2018SY0019 and 2014SZ0191).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan Province, China

    Qin Yang, Junke Wang, Fei Liu, Wenjie Ma, Haijie Hu, Congdun Ran & Fuyu Li

  2. Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Postgraduate School Molecular Medicine, Erasmus MC-University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Qin Yang & Qiuwei Pan

Authors
  1. Qin Yang
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  2. Junke Wang
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  3. Fei Liu
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  4. Wenjie Ma
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  7. Fuyu Li
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Contributions

FL designed this research; JW, HH, FL and CR contributed to the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of the data; QY and WM performed the experimental operation; QY drafted this article; QP and FL revised this manuscript and gave the final approval of the version to be published.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fuyu Li.

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Conflict of interest

No benefits in any form have been received or will be received from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.

Animal care and use

The animal protocol was designed to minimize pain or discomfort to the animals. The animals were acclimatized to laboratory conditions (23 °C, 12 h/12 h/light/dark, 50% humidity, ad libitum access to food and water) for 2 weeks prior to experimentation. Intragastric gavage administration was carried out with conscious animals, using straight gavage needles appropriate for the animal size. All animals were euthanized by barbiturate overdose (intravenous injection, 150 mg/kg pentobarbital sodium) for tissue collection.

Institutional animal care and use committee

All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Sichuan University.

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Yang, Q., Wang, J., Liu, F. et al. A Novel Rabbit Model for Benign Biliary Stricture Formation and the Effects of Medication Infusions on Stricture Formation. Dig Dis Sci 63, 2653–2661 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-018-5118-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-018-5118-0

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