Tom Dresselaers1, Christine Breynaert2, Johan Cremer2, Kristel Van Steen3, Clementine Perrier2, Severine Vermeire4, Paul Rutgeerts4, Jan Ceuppens5, Gert Van Assche4, Uwe Himmelreich1
1Biomedical NMR Unit / MoSAIC, K.U.Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 2Division of gastroenterology, KULeuven, Leuven, Belgium; 3System and Modeling Unit, Montefiore Institute, Liege, Belgium; 4Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Gasthuisberg; 5Experimental immunology, K.U.Leuven
Most experimental animal models of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) fail to accurately reflect the chronically relapsing inflammation underlying the complications of human Crohns disease. This study investigated whether repeated cycles of dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) adequately reflect the effects of chronic transmural healing compared to the acute murine (DSS) colitis model with recovery. The in vivo T2 relaxometry showed significant differences between the first and second cycle of DSS. This difference was also evident from histology and macroscopic scoring. T2 relaxometry may therfore be a promising non-invasive assessment method in IBD. This model also opens perspectives to study the effects of healing and fibrosis in Crohns disease.