The villi contribute to the mechanics in the guinea pig small intestine

Previous studies have shown that intestinal mucosa is compressed in vivo. The present study investigated the contribution of the mucosal villi to the biomechanical properties in circumferential direction in the guinea pig jejunum. Eight 20-cm-long jejunal segments were excised and each separated into two 10-cm-long segments. The mucosal villi were scraped off from half the segments. The segments were pressurized in vitro with Krebs solution from 0–10 cmH2O using a ramp distension protocol with simultaneous diameter recordings. Circumferential stresses and strains were computed from the diameter, pressure and the zero-stress state data. Removing the villi resulted in small opening angles (139±16° vs 189±27° with villi) and small absolute values of residual strain (inner: −0.05±0.03 vs −0.33±0.06 with villi; outer: 0.11±0.04 vs 0.33±0.08 with villi) (P<0.001). The outer diameter as a function of the pressure did not differ between jejunal segments with villi and without villi. The average mid-wall stress–strain curve without villi was shifted to the left compared to the segment with villi, indicating the wall was stiffer without villi. However, if the stress–strain computation for the segments with villi was referenced to the zero-stress state of the segments without villi, the curve was only partly shifted to the left. In conclusion, this paper provides the first direct experimental evidence that the villi are important for the biomechanical properties of guinea pig small intestine in circumferential direction, because the villi not only affect the zero-stress state configuration but also partially affect the stress–strain distribution in the intestinal wall. Therefore, the villi should be taken into account in the analysis of biomechanical properties of the intestinal wall.