Free Oxygen Radicals in Cerulein Induced Acute Pancreatitis

Roe, Im Hwan; Song, Il Han; Kim, Jung Won; Yang, Mi Ra; Kim, Jung Taik; Lee, Jong Hwa; Park, Dong Guk; Lim, Chang Young; Lee, Myung In; Sohn, So Hee; Jin, Young Joo; Cho, Jeong Hee

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Oxygen radicals are suggested to be an imponant role in the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis in experimental animals. Cerulein is closely related to the cholecystokinin and it is a potent stimulant of pancreatic exocrine secretion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of free oxygen radicals in the cerulein induced acute pancreatitis.
METHODS
Two groups of male Sprague Dawley rats weighing 380-420gm were studied: control group(n=12), fasted for 12 hours the animals with intraperitoneal injection twice of 0,9% saline with a l-hour interval, and cerulein group(n=20), animals who fasted for 12 hour received two intraperitoneal injections of cerulein at hourly intervals(40 microgram/kg). After 4 hours of observation time, serum-amylase and the tissue content of malondialdehyde, glutathione and histology was studied.
RESULTS
Serum amylase in the cerulein group was significantly high(p<0.001), compared with the control group. Also glutathione level of pancreatic tissue was decreased significantly(p<0.01) and pancreatic malondialdehyde level was increased significantly(p<0.01) in the cerulein treated group. In pancreatic histology, pancreatic ederna including acinar cell atrophy, periductal intlammation, and periductal fibrosis were observed in all cases of cerulein treated group.
CONCLUSIONS
We concluded that the profound depletion of the activity of glutathione and increase of malondialdehyde occuring after cerulein induced pancreatitis seemed to be important in tissue injury and oxygen radicals might be responsible for an important step in the initation of acute pancreatitis.