A Surgical Rat Model of Sleeve Gastrectomy with Staple Technique: Long-Term Weight Loss Results

Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) is one of the surgical procedures applied for treating morbid obesity consisting of removing the gastric fundus and transforming the stomach into a narrow gastric tube. The aim of this experimental study is to create a functional model of SG and to present the long-term weight loss results. Twenty adult Wistar rats were fed with high fat diet for 12 weeks before being divided randomly in two groups of ten rats each. One group underwent SG performed with the use of staples, and the other group underwent a sham operation (control group). The animals' weight was evaluated weekly for 15 weeks after the operation. All animals survived throughout the experiment. After the operation both groups started to lose weight with maximum weight loss on the seventh postoperative day (POD) for the sham-operated group and on the 15th POD for the SG group. Thereafter, both groups started to regain weight but with different rates. By the fourth postoperative week (POW), the average weight of the sham group did not differ statistically significantly compared to the preoperative weight, while after the eighth POW, rats' average weight was statistically significantly increased compared to the preoperative value. On the other hand, average weight of the SG group was lower postoperatively until the end of the study compared to the preoperative average weight. We have created a surgical rat model of experimental SG model, enabling the further study of biochemical and hormonal parameters.