Abstract

Intestinal explants of animal fetuses could be useful the small intestine and get infectíons. Various techniques have been described for the in vitro maintenance of intestinal tissue from adult, suckling, or fetuses mice, but their use is limited by fast evolution to necro­sis. In order to study in detail the effect of viruses infection on the intestinal mucosa, we have developed an in vitro model using explants of mice fetuses. BALB/C mice fetuses were obtained by mid-line abdomi­nal incisión on days 18 to 20 of mice gestation. The intestines were collected and placed in cold complete médium (RIMI 1640, antibiotic, and fetal bovine serum). They were incubated in Petri dishes at 37"C in 5% CO2. The results of light and electrón microscopy observations showed that the explants may be cultured for up 5 days and that the enterocyte villi maintained the normal architecture similar to in uterus grown mice. Therefore, we conclude that this methodology could be used in the investigation of gut viral infections.