Comparison between the digestive behaviors of a new in vitro rat soft stomach model with that of the in vivo experimentation on living rats – Motility and morphological influences

A ‘near-real’ in vitro stomach model should not only resemble of the biochemical and physiological conditions found in the real stomachs, but also possess their geometrical and morphological details. In this work, quantitative evidences regarding the physiological relevant morphology including wrinkles on the inner-surface of a new rat model stomach, which assisted the compression and digestion behavior of the dynamics in vitro rat stomach (DIVRS), have been presented. A good repeatability in the tests on the DIVRS is shown, compared with the in vivo experiments of the living rats. However the digestion efficiency and the buffering capacity in the DIVRS were lower than the in vivo systems, most likely due to the limited motility mechanism of the movement of the model stomach system. Further improvements are needed to make the DIVRS more attractive for practical applications.

► We create a near-real soft-elastic artificial rat stomach mode. ► We study the rat stomach model’s digestive behaviors. ► The wrinkles of the stomach could disperse the compressive forces. ► The in vitro results are more repeatability than the in vivo experiments.