Objective  To construct the adhesion model of abdominal wall-cecum injury and explore the prevention and treatment effect of modified xyloglucan (mXG) thermosensitive hydrogel on abdominal wall-cecal injury adhesion.

  Methods  SD rats were used to construct the abdominal wall-cecal injury adhesion model. Model mice were randomly divided into blank control group (Control), commercial chitosan membrane Control group (Film) and mXG thermosensitive hydrogel group (Hydrogel), each group contained 16 rats.In the Hydrogel group, 1 mL 4% (m/V) mXG solution was smeared on the wound surface of abdominal wall and the cecum, then closed the abdomen after gel was formed (3 min).In the Film group, 2 cm×3 cm chitosan anti-adhesion Film was applied onto the wound surface of the abdominal wall before abdominal closure.In the Control group, 1 mL normal saline was applied onto the wound surface of abdominal wall and the cecum before abdominal closure.On 7 and 14 d after the operation, rats'abdominal cavity was opened by surgery to examine and score the adhesion grade between the abdominal wall and the cecum, with double-blind design.Meanwhile, the adhesion tissue or wound tissue was taken and stained by HE, Masson and Van Gieson to histological evaluate the anti-adhesion effect.The expression of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) was determined by immunohistochemical staining as well. Another group of 12 SD rat models were subjected to mXG thermosensitive hydrogel intervention.At the 1 and 6 weeks postoperation, rats main organs such as heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney were taken for histological examination with HE staining for the purpose of evaluation the toxicity of mXG in vivo.

  Results  Adhesion grade evaluation results showed that Film group rats occurred mild adhesion, Control group rats occurred severe adhesion, while in Hydrogel group hardly rats occured adhesion, and the differences were statistically significant(P < 0.05). Histological results showed that the Hydrogel group rats recovered well at 7 d after surgery.In healing wound tissue, no mutated tissue was observed, but a certain degree of inflammatory cell infiltration was still existed. At 14 d after surgery, the inflammation cells in the wound were significantly reduced, and the healing tissue containing only a small amount of collagen fibers under the neonatal mesothelial layer.But the other two groups showed different degrees of adhesion at the 7 and 14 d post surgery.Immunohistochemical staining showed that the expression of TGF-β1 and CTGF in the Hydrogel group were both weaker than those in the other groups, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). In vivo toxicity tests did not show significant changes in the structure of the organs of mXG gel intervention rats at different time points.

  Conclusion  mXG thermosensitive hydrogel plays a good role in physical isolation during the key period of adhesion formation and effectively prevent the occurrence of cecum-abdominal adhesion.