Examining enteric nervous system function in rat and mouse: an interspecies comparison of colonic motility

Abstract

Mice and rats are widely used in gastrointestinal research but have fundamental differences that make them important as different models for different questions. We found that mice have a higher villi length-to-width and villi length-to-crypt depth ratio than rat in proximal colon. Using the ex vivo video imaging technique, we observed that rat colon has more prominent response to blockade of major inhibitory neurotransmitter (nitric oxide) in myenteric plexus than mouse colon.