Preparation of rat intestinal muscle and mucosa for quantitative microcirculatory studies

This paper describes methods and procedural details for preparing either the rat intestinal muscle or mucosa for observation under the microscope. The tissues are transilluminated through a short optical clad rod with a standard condenser system. The tissue environment can be controlled, and the microcirculation of the muscle and mucosa are clearly visible and directly accessible. The arteries, veins, and nerves to the intestine can be simultaneously manipulated. One can therefore control a number of macro- and microcirculatory parameters, and perform a wide variety of quantitative measurements on either the intestinal muscle or mucosal vasculature.