THE PULMONARY COMPLICATIONS IN RATS AFTER AN EXPERIMENTALY INDUCED PANCREATITIS MODEL

Abstract

Pulmonary complications are the most important and frequent complications of acute pancreatitis. In this study acute pancreatitis was induced by infusing, via the transduodenal route, 5% sodium cholate into the biliopancreatic duct of male Sprague-Dawley rats. Four groups consisting from experiment and control animals (n=10 and n=5 respectively) were sacrificed 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours arter the procedure, and serum amylase, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), glucose, haematocrite, calcium levels and blood gases were measured. Pancreas and lung biopsy specimens were sent for histopathological section. The early changes observed in pancreas were edema and neutrophilic infiltration while necrosis and haemorrage were dominant later. Pulmonary changes were parallel to the severity of pancreatitis. During the transition from edematous to necrotising pancreatitis serum amylase, LDH and pCO2 were increased four, three and one and a half fold respectively, calcium and pO2 were decreased by half. Finally, the acute pancreatitis model, exhibited transition from edematous to necrotising form with time and showed a direct relation between the severity of acute pancreatitis and pulmonary complications.