Implantation of an ultrafiltration device in the ileum and spiral colon of steers to continuously collect intestinal fluid

•Continuous collection of fluid from the gastrointestinal tract is challenging.•We examine the use of ultrafiltration collection devices to collect this fluid.•The surgical procedure to implant the devices in steers is described in detail.•We successfully collected 88% of desired samples over 48 hours.•There were no complications associated with the surgery or sample collection.

Collection of fluid from the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract is commonly necessary for research projects, but presents challenges including intestinal motility and potential for leakage of intestinal contents. In this study, ultrafiltration collection devices were surgically implanted in the ileum and spiral colon of 12 steers for repeated collection of intestinal fluid over 48 hours. There were no significant complications associated with surgery or during the post-operative period, nor were there any significant pathologic changes found at necropsy 3 or 4 days post-surgery. Over 48 hours, we obtained 88% of the desired 212 samples. Only two devices failed to routinely collect samples. Use of ultrafiltration probes is a novel, consistent and humane method to repeatedly sample the gastrointestinal contents.