were determined from the ratio of ﬂuorescence intensity of fura- 2-AM at 340 and 380 nm. Cells were exposed to control treatment or varying concentrations of IL-1, Il-6, and TNF- for 24 hours at which time calcium measurement was performed during one minute exposure to glutamate 10 M. Short-term exposure to cytokine was examined in the following manner. Initial glutamate exposure for one minute served as an internal control. After return to baseline, neurons were exposed to cytokine at 1 ng/ml for two minutes followed by one minute exposure to glutamate 10 M in the presence of cytokine. Data were analyzed using ANOVA. Signiﬁcance was ac- cepted as p 0.05. Results: After 24 hours incubation with IL-1, TNF-, or IL-6 each at concentrations of 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 ng/ml, the glutamate-induced increase in intracellular calcium concentration, F/F 0 , was examined. Maximal F/F 0 was signiﬁcantly decreased at all experimental conditions compared to control experiments. Spe- ciﬁcally, exposure to IL-1 signiﬁcantly decreased maximal F/F 0 at each concentration (52%  4%, 46%  3%, 52%  2%, 60%  3% vs. control, respectively; p  0.001 for all conditions). Exposure to IL-6 signiﬁcantly decreased maximal F/F 0 at each concentration (60%  3%, 62%  6%, 60%  5%, 68%  3% vs. control, respectively; p  0.03 for all conditions). Exposure to TNF- signiﬁcantly decreased maximal F/F 0 at each concentration (63%  4%, 51%  3%, 57%  3%, 66%  3% vs. control, respectively; p  0.008 for all conditions). Despite this decrease in calcium transients, nearly all neurons ex- perimented upon responded to glutamate exposure. The effect of short-term exposure to cytokine was next examined. Neurons were exposed to cytokine at 1 ng/ml for two minutes followed by one minute exposure to glutamate 10 M in the presence of cytokine. After exposure to IL-1, TNF-, or IL-6, maximal glutamate-induced F/F 0 and percentage of cells responding were nearly identical to 50control experiments. Conclusions: DMNV neurons projecting to the stomach are functionally altered by exposure to inﬂammatory cytokines. This functional alteration occurs after chronic, but not acute, exposure to cytokines. QS277. CORRELATIONS BETWEEN NEOADJUVANT TREAT- MENT, ANEMIA AND PERIOPERATIVE COMPLICA- TIONS IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING ESOPHAGEC- TOMY FOR CANCER. Marcovalerio Melis 1 , James M. McLoughlin 2 , Erin Michelle Dean 1 , Erin M. Siegel 1 , Jill We- ber 1 , Richard C. Karl 1 ; 1 H. Lee Mofﬁtt Cancer Center and Research Insitute, Tampa, FL; 2 Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA Introduction: The inﬂuence of pre-operative hemoglobin levels (Hb) on outcomes of patients undergoing esophagectomy for can- cer is currently unknown. We studied the correlation between administration of neoadjuvant chemo-radiation (NeoT), preoper- ative Hb level and peri-operative blood transfusions (BTx), and the inﬂuence of those variables on post-operative complications in patients undergoing esophageal resection. Methods: From our esophageal database we identiﬁed patients who had received NeoT and calculated the incidence of anemia (Hb  25 th percentile -12 gr/dL). We examined if anemic patients were more likely to receive peri-operative BTx; next we studied if NeoT, Hb 12 or BTx were associated with increased peri-operative complications. Statistical analysis was performed with analysis of variance, Pearson’s chi square or Fisher exact test as appropriate. Results: Among 296 patients who underwent esophagectomy, data on Hb, NeoT and BTx was available respectively in 260, 284 and 296. Fifty-one percent of our patients had received NeoT. Overall 66/260 (25%) patients were anemic, and those who had received NeoT were more likely to be anemic (mean Hb levels 12.6 in NeoT vs. 13.7 gr/dL in no NeoT, p=0.002; Hb 12 gr/dL in 33.8% NeoT vs. 17.4% no NeoT, p=0.002). Anemic patients required more blood transfusions than non-anemic patients (12% vs 2%, p=0.001). Seventy-ﬁve percent of patient who required transfusion during the hospital stay had received NeoT (p = 0.003). Table 1 sumarizes the observed complications according to Hb, NeoT, BTx. Conclusions: Patients who had received NeoT were more likely to be anemic, but anemia itself was not directly related to increased incidence of perioperative complications. However anemic patients had increased chance of receiving a BTx, and there was asigniﬁcant correlation between administration of BTx and respira- tory failure. Neither administration of neoadjuvant chemo-radiation, nor preoperative anemia, nor administration of blood transfusion increased the peri-operative mortality. QS278. AMERICAN AND JAPANESE RATS OF THE SAME SPECIES: ARE THEY SAME? Fumiaki Yano 1 , Kazuto Tsuboi 1 , Amr El Sherif 1 , Nobuo Omura 2 , Hideyuki Kashi- wagi 2 , Katsuhiko Yanaga 2 , Sumeet K. Mittal 1 ; 1 Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, NE; 2 Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan Introduction: We have previously reported an animal model of chronic reﬂux esophagitis using Japanese Wistar male (JWM) rats. Recently, we attempted to duplicate the model using Amer- ican Wistar male (AWM) and female (AWF) rats. The aim of this study is to discuss signiﬁcantly unexpected differences encoun- tered within the same species but bred in different countries. Methods: The model was developed using JWM rats. Via a mid- line laparotomy the limiting ridge of the stomach was ligated and the duodenum was covered with a small piece of an 18 Fr suction catheter (width = 2 mm). This created delayed gastric emptying along with an incompetent lower esophageal sphincter and reli- ably created reﬂux esophagitis in 100% of rats at 3 weeks. We subsequently tried to reproduce the same model using AWM rats and after having encountered difﬁculties used AWF rats. All su- ture material and techniques were identical. Rresults: The 3 week survival rate of AWM rats was 30% (3 of 10) which is signiﬁcantly lower than for JWM rats. Problems encountered included require- ment to euthanize two rats on POD#1 as they had chewed through the laparotomy incisions leading to evisceration. Another two AWM rats died due to thoracic esophageal rupture (presumably) due to either rapid or too much eating. Comparison of the growth curves revealed that AWM rats grew nearly 1.4 times as fast in terms of weight gain as JWM rats while the growth curve was similar. We decided to use AWF rats and additionally placed collars to prevent from chewing their stitches. Nevertheless, the 3 week survival rate was only 40% (4 of 10). Major causes included either rapid ingestion of either food or other materials such as collar or rubber on water bottle indicating that not only there is a difference in growth chart (JWM vs. AWM) but also in eating patterns (JWM vs. AWM / AWF) causing unexpected mortality in a well-established model. Since then we have modiﬁed our post- operative care including access to food and other objects, and TABLE 1 Hb  12 Hb = 12 NeoT No NeoT BTx No BTx Hb  12, NeoT N = 67 N = 193 N = 148 N = 136 N = 12 N = 284 N = 44 I.O. Cardiac events 1 (1.5%) 1 (0.5%) 1 (0.7%) 1 (0.7%) 0 (0%) 2 (0.7%) 1 (2.3%) P.O. cardiac event 8 (11.9%) 26 (13.5%) 17 (11.5%) 19 (14.0%) 2 (16.7%) 34 (12.0%) 5 (11.4%) Wound infection 2 (3.0%) 10 (5.2%) 7 (4.7%) 7 (5.1%) 0 (0%) 14 (5.1%) 2 (4.5%) Pneumonia 9 (13.6%) 25 (13%) 20 (13.6%) 21 (15.4%) 3 (27.3%) 38 (13.9%) 5 (11.6%) Resp. failure 7 (10.4%) 12 (6.2%) 13 (8.8%) 9 (6.6%) 4 (33.3%)* 18 (6.3%)* 6 (13.6%) Anast. leak 3 (4.5%) 10 (5.2%) 3 (2%) 11 (8.1%) 2 (16.7%) 12 (4.2%) 1 (2.3%) DVT or PE 2 (3.0%) 5 (2.6%) 5 (3.4%) 3 (2.2%) 1 (8.3%) 7 (2.5%) 1 (2.3%) Deaths 3 (4.4%) 4 (2.0%) 3 (2.0%) 4 (2.9%) 1 (8%) 6 (2%) 2 (4%) *p = 0.007. 377 ASSOCIATION FOR ACADEMIC SURGERY AND SOCIETY OF UNIVERSITY SURGEONS—ABSTRACTS