| Summary: | Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) augments intestinal adaptation in animal models of short bowel syndrome (SBS) and in adult patients with SBS. However, GLP-2 has not been used as a therapy for pediatric SBS. In this thesis, it is hypothesized that exogenous GLP-2 therapy will improve outcomes of intestinal adaptation in proximal intestinal resection (JI) and distal intestinal resection (JC) neonatal piglet models of SBS. Improvements in morphological parameters (increased small intestinal length) and histological parameters (increased jejunal villus length or jejunal crypt depth) of intestinal adaptation in JI and JC neonatal piglets treated with GLP-2 were observed. However, improved clinical outcomes (fewer days of diarrhea, fewer days on parenteral nutrition, more days on enteral nutrition alone) were only observed in GLP-2 treated JC animals. Since the JC anatomical subtype (no remnant ileum) represents the majority of clinical cases of neonatal SBS, these results support a potential role for GLP-2 therapy in pediatric SBS.
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