The fact that small bowel is extremely sensitive to ischemia/reperfusion injury had encouraged us to compare the influences of warm and cold ischemia on the intestinal structural changes by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method. Warm and cold ischemia groups were established on Wistar rats with 1,3 and 6 h ischemic times. Intestinal biopsies were collected after laparotomy and at the end of the ischemia periods. DSC measurement was performed on mucosa, on muscular layer and on the total intestinal wall. Our DSC data confirmed that longer warm ischemia period caused more severe damage in the structure of mucosa and muscular layers. According to the results of transition temperature and calorimetric enthalpy suggest that these changes reduced by cold ischemic procedure in University of Wisconsin solution. However, the thermal destruction of each layers following cold preservation injury revealed significant differences compared to normal bowel structure. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.