Abstract
Acute pancreatitis (AP), especially severe acute pancreatitis often causes extra-pancreatic complications, such as acute gastrointestinal mucosal lesion (AGML) which is accompanied by a considerably high mortality, yet the pathogenesis of AP-induced AGML is still not fully understood. In this report, we investigated the alterations of serum components and gastric endocrine and exocrine functions in rats with experimental acute pancreatitis, and studied the possible contributions of these alterations in the pathogenesis of AGML. In addition, we explored the intervention effects of cannabinoid receptor agonist HU210 and antagonist AM251 on isolated and serum-perfused rat stomach. Our results showed that the AGML occurred after 5 h of AP replication, and the body homeostasis was disturbed in AP rat, with increased levels of pancreatic enzymes, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), proinflammtory cytokines and chemokines in the blood, and an imbalance of the gastric secretion function. Perfusing the isolated rat stomach with the AP rat serum caused morphological changes in the stomach, accompanied with a significant increment of pepsin and [H+] release, and increased gastrin and decreased somatostatin secretion. HU210 reversed the AP-serum-induced rat pathological alterations, including the reversal of transformation of the gastric morphology to certain degree. The results from this study prove that the inflammatory responses and the imbalance of the gastric secretion during the development of AP are responsible for the pathogenesis of AGML, and suggest the therapeutic potential of HU210 for AGML associated with acute pancreatitis.
Highlights
Acute pancreatitis (AP), especially severe AP, is a potentially lethal inflammatory disease of pancreas which often leads to extrapancreatic complications, even multiple systemic organ dysfunctions
Other investigations discovered that the serum and ascitic fluid from AP patients and experimental animals contained a large amount of toxic substances, such as pancreatic enzymes, endotoxins, inflammatory mediators [5,6], which may contribute to the multiple organ dysfunctions in acute pancreatitis [7,8]
To investigate the effect of cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptor agonist HU210 on the endocrine function of the isolated rat stomach stimulated with AP rat serum, we examined the alterations of gastrin and somatostatin levels in the venous effluent of the stomach, with or without intervention of CB1 receptor agonist HU210 and antagonist AM251
Summary
Acute pancreatitis (AP), especially severe AP, is a potentially lethal inflammatory disease of pancreas which often leads to extrapancreatic complications, even multiple systemic organ dysfunctions. It has been established that D9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the major psychoactive component of Cannabis, exerts its primary cellular actions though two G protein-coupled receptors, cannabinoid 1 (CB1) and cannabinoid 2 (CB2) receptors [9,10,11]. Since these two receptors have been recognized as the major regulators of physiological and pathological processes [12]. Cannabinoids can reduce gastrointestinal secretion [13], and the activation of CB1 receptor exhibits protective role against stress-induced AGML [14,15], but the mechanisms of their action remain elusive
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