Delayed development of vacuoles and recanalization in the duodenum: a study in human fetuses to understand susceptibility to duodenal atresia/stenosis

Abstract

Objective

We compared the cross-sectional areas of the duodenum to the distal small intestine during early gestation to determine if there is a difference in age for recanalization.

Methods

Serial sagittal sections of six fetuses of gestational age (GA) 8-10 weeks were examined morphologically to compare the degree of recanalization of the duodenum with to the more distal small intestine.

Results

At GA 8-9 weeks, the duodenum had more epithelial plugs and vacuoles with no or narrower spaces compared to the distal small bowel. Quantitative assessment at GA 10 weeks showed that the cross-sectional area of the duodenal cavity was significantly less than the distal small bowel.

Conclusion

The development and recanalization of vacuoles in the duodenum occurs later than the jejunum and ileum may be involved in the more frequent development of atresia/stenosis of the duodenum compared to more distal gastrointestinal tract.

Keywords:

• Atresia
• stenosis
• duodenum
• recanalization
• human fetus

Acknowledgement

We thanks to Dr. Kenneth KY Wong for revise the paper, who works in Department of Pediatric Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong.

Research ethics approval

The study was approved by Medical Ethics Committee of Jiangnan University, the reference number is JNU20190318IRB62.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals (Long Li) grant number (XTZD20180302).