Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Short bowel syndrome (SBS) occurs after loss of a large part of the small intestine, which absorbs food. This occurs often in premature babies, due to diseases that start during pregnancy or after birth, and require surgery. The remaining intestine is not able to absorb nutrition for the babies to survive and grow. More than one-third of the babies die from complications, mainly from the intravenous nutrition that they must have to live and grow. SBS is the most common reason for small intestinal transplantation in Canada, although half of the young children die awaiting transplant due to a lack of donors. We need better solutions for babies with SBS, who are unable to improve their intestinal absorption over time (called adaptation), to avoid their early death or need for transplantation. Otherwise, 1% of all children less than four years may die from this condition. Based on our research, we believe a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) is a potential solution. This hormone helps the intestine to grow in newborn babies and is produced in a part of the intestine called the ileum, which is often surgically removed in babies who develop SBS. We want to study GLP-2 treatment and adaptation in piglets, as a model for babies with SBS. In our opinion, it is too soon to study sick human babies without getting preliminary information in piglets. We do believe that GLP-2 treatment will increase adaptation in SBS piglets, especially if given early after surgery and if they don't have ileum. We also believe combined therapy with another hormone, called epidermal growth factor, will work even better. We can determine if this is all true by using our laboratory's established piglet models. We will study SBS piglets over one week, measuring growth and adaptation over that time, while giving the hormone treatments. The experiments we have designed and outlined in this proposal will help us to develop a new and life-saving treatment for babies with SBS.