Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 14, 2024; 30(10): 1420-1430
Published online Mar 14, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i10.1420
Preliminary exploration of animal models of congenital choledochal cysts
Shu-Hao Zhang, Yue-Bin Zhang, Duo-Te Cai, Tao Pan, Ken Chen, Yi Jin, Wen-Juan Luo, Zong-Wei Huang, Qing-Jiang Chen, Zhi-Gang Gao
Shu-Hao Zhang, Yue-Bin Zhang, Duo-Te Cai, Tao Pan, Ken Chen, Yi Jin, Wen-Juan Luo, Zong-Wei Huang, Qing-Jiang Chen, Zhi-Gang Gao, Department of General Surgery, Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang SH designed and performed the research and wrote the paper; Gao ZG, Zhang YB, and Cai DT designed the research and supervised the report; Chen K, Jin Y, Luo WJ, and Huang ZW designed the research and contributed to the analysis; Chen QJ and Pan T provided clinical advice and supervised the report.
Supported by the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang, No. 2023C03029; Health Science and Technology Plan of Zhejiang Province, No. 2022RC201; and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation Project, No. LY20H030007.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of The Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine (approval No. 2022-IRB-108). Prior to inclusion in this study, written informed consent was obtained from all subjects.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The protocol of the animal study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Laboratory Animal Center of Zhejiang University (approval No. ZJU20230273).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhi-Gang Gao, PhD, Chief Doctor, Department of General Surgery, Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 3333 Binsheng Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China. ebwk@zju.edu.cn
Received: October 17, 2023
Peer-review started: October 17, 2023
First decision: January 15, 2024
Revised: January 17, 2024
Accepted: February 21, 2024
Article in press: February 21, 2024
Published online: March 14, 2024
Processing time: 149 Days and 12.7 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Pancreaticobiliary maljunction (PBM) is the main hypothesis of choledochal cyst (CC). However, accumulating clinical evidence suggests that PBM cannot fully explain the pathogenesis of CC. Previously reported animal models, including models of anastomosis of the pancreatic and biliary ducts, models of complete ligation of the lower segment of the common bile duct, have been unable to adequately support basic researches on CCs.

Research motivation

Satisfactory outcomes achieved with current surgical techniques for CCs have led to a pause in basic research on the pathogenesis of CCs. Thus, we need appropriate animal models of CCs to further basic researches.

Research objectives

To establish a stable and repeatable animal model of CC based on partial ligation of the bile duct to investigate the pathogenesis of CCs.

Research methods

Specific pathogen-free female SD rats were randomly allocated to a surgical group (partial ligation of the bile duct), sham surgical group, or control group. The partial ligation of the bile duct was performed by ligating a 1 mL needle and the bile duct together, followed by the careful removal of the needle after tightening the absorbable suture. The reliability of the model was confirmed through measurements of serum biochemical indices, the morphology of common bile duct and molecular biology experiments in rat and human tissues.

Research results

All 84 rats survived to the time of dissection. Rats in the surgical group (groups A-C) showed varying degrees of dilation of the common bile ducts with slight damage to the liver and those in the sham surgical and control groups (groups D-G) showed no dilation of the common bile ducts. The changing trends of biochemical indexes indicated that the partially ligated bile ducts experienced a pathological process of recanalization after incomplete obstruction of the distal bile duct. And the reliability of the model was also confirmed by molecular biology experiments in rat and human tissues.

Research conclusions

The model of partial ligation of the bile duct of juvenile rats could morphologically simulate the cystic or fusiform CCs. This stable and repeatable model was more consistent with the natural disease course of CC formation than complete ligation which may assist in the basic researches of CCs.

Research perspectives

We hope our partial ligation of the bile duct of juvenile rats can promote the basic research of CCs and provide a reliable animal model for further research on the formation of cystic CCs or fusiform CCs.