Histopathology of human small intestinal and colonic ischemia-reperfusion : Experiences from human IR-models

Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury is a frequent, but potentially life-threatening condition. Although much has been learned about its pathophysiology from animal IR models, the translation to the human setting is imperative for better understanding of its etiology. This could provide us with new insight into development of early detection and potential new therapeutic strategies. Over the past decade, we have studied the pathophysiology of human small intestinal and colonic ischemia-reperfusion (IR) in newly developed human in vivo IR models. In this review, we give an overview of new insights on the sequelae of human intestinal IR, with particular attention for the differences in histopathology between small intestinal and colonic IR.