Clinical and experimental study on effect of rhubarb on gastrointestinal blood flow perfusion

Abstract

To study the effect of rhubarb on gastrointestinal (GI) perfusion in critical illness and hemorrhagic shocked rats. Clinical study: Sixty-four septic patients suffered from stress ulcer were treated with rhubarb at a dose of 25 mg/kg, 25 non-septic patients were taken as control. The GI perfusion was evaluated by intramural pH. Animal study: SD rats were anesthetized with intraperitoneal sodium pentobarbital at a dose of 20 mg/kg. Then the animals were blood-letting, the blood pressure reduced to 5.32 kPa and maintained for 120 minutes. They were resuscitated at the end of shock by reperfusing all the shed blood. The rats were divided into four groups: normal control, shock group, treated group (shocked rats were treated with 50 mg/kg rhubarb by the end of shock), and rhubarb group (normal rats were treated with rhubarb). Laser Doppler determination was applied to estimate the GI perfusion. Clinical study: The pH in septic patients was much lower than that in the control, whereas rhubarb could obviously elevate GI pH (P < 0.01). In addition, rhubarb also had a good effect on gastric hemorrhage caused by stress ulcer, the effectiveness was 73.4%. Animal study: Although the shocked rats were resuscitated completely, their GI perfusion was much lower than that in the control. Rhubarb could significantly improve the mucous membrane of GI and mesenterium perfusion (P < 0.01). Furthermore, rhubarb also increased the GI perfusion in normal rats. The rhubarb could improve the GI blood perfusion in critical illness and shocked rats.