Abstract
It is noted that elevated serum amylase levels suggesting pancreatic damage has an association with prognosis in PQ patients. This study aimed to determine whether PQ can cause pancreatic damage. The two conventional models (intragastric infusion (iG) and intraperitoneal injection (iP)) may exhibit different effects on the pancreas depending on whether or not they pass through the digestive tract. In this study, the rats were divided into four groups: the intragastric infusion group (PQ-iG, n = 45), intraperitoneal injection group (PQ-iP, n = 53), normal control group 1 (NC-iG, n = 6) and normal control group 2 (NC-iP, n = 6). Pancreatic damage was compared between groups using serum amylase activity assay, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, TUNEL assay, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Serum amylase levels in group PQ-iG were significantly higher than in group PQ-iP (p < 0.05). Examination of the H&E sections showed damage to the pancreas. Both experimental groups were displayed inflammatory infiltration within 9 h of PQ treatment. After 9 h, patchy necrosis was observed in group PQ-iP, when inflammatory infiltration was still the dominant pathology. Necrosis appeared and gradually worsened in group PQ-iG, in which necrosis was the dominant pathology. The TUNEL assay showed significantly higher numbers of apoptotic cells in the pancreas of PQ-groups than in the control NC- groups (p < 0.05). TEM showed expansive endoplasmic reticulum lumens and mitochondria swelling in the pancreas of the PQ-groups. It is concluded that both methods of modeling could cause pancreatic damage and the type and degree of damage would change over time. Note that pancreatic damage in group PQ-iG was more severe than that in group PQ-iP. Therefore, clinical practitioners should pay close attention to pancreatic damage caused by PQ, especially when the route of PQ administration was oral.
Highlights
Paraquat (PQ) ingestion can lead to multiple organ failure (Melchiorri et al, 1995; Adachi et al, 2000; Zhang X. et al, 2019; Liu et al, 2019; Mirzaee et al, 2019)
It has been shown that patients diagnosed with PQ poisoning who have elevated levels of serum amylase have a worse prognosis than other patients (Gil et al, 2009; Li et al, 2015; Huang et al, 2020)
In our previous animal model study, in which PQ was administered to rats by intragastric infusion, we found that PQ poisoning increased serum amylase levels in the rats; histopathological examination of rat pancreas showed that the pancreas presented inflammatory cell infiltration and cell necrosis (Gao Y. et al, 2020)
Summary
Paraquat (PQ) ingestion can lead to multiple organ failure (Melchiorri et al, 1995; Adachi et al, 2000; Zhang X. et al, 2019; Liu et al, 2019; Mirzaee et al, 2019). Some clinical studies have shown elevated serum amylase levels in PQ poisoning patients, which suggests that PQ may cause pancreatic damage (Soontornniyomkij and Bunyaratvej, 1992; Wang and Qian, 2005; Gong et al, 2016). In our previous animal model study, in which PQ was administered to rats by intragastric infusion (iG), we found that PQ poisoning increased serum amylase levels in the rats; histopathological examination of rat pancreas showed that the pancreas presented inflammatory cell infiltration and cell necrosis (Gao Y. et al, 2020). Others maintain that PQ in the digestive tract may retrograde into the pancreatic duct due to causes like vomiting and gastric lavage after PQ poisoning, leading to pancreatic damage (Gong et al, 2016). Further investigation of whether PQ poisoning by iP leads to pancreatic damage and differences in the progression of PQ poisoning between administration by iG and iP is merited
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