Cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase metabolism in sodium taurocholate induced acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis in rats

Abstract

Several studies have reported that prostanoids are involved in many of the physiopathological mechanisms underlying acute pancreatitis but their precise role in this disease remains to be established. The objective of this work is to evaluate the variation of local tissue production of prostanoids and lipoxygenase metabolites of arachidonic acid in acute pancreas inflammation induced by intraductal administration of 3.5 % sodium taurocholate (0.1 ml/100 mg body weight) in rats. Pancreatic tissue levels of leukotriene B 4 (LTB 4), 15 hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (15-HETE), 6-keto prostaglandin F 1α (6-keto PGF 1α), thromboxane B 2 (TXB 2) and prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2) were determined by HPLC-RIA techniques at 5 and 60 minutes after induction of acute pancreatitis (AP). Prostanoids increased significantly at 5 minutes and LTB 4 and 15-HETE at 60 minutes. These data confirm that the prostanoid imbalance could be considered as an early specific response of the pancreas to the inflammatory events characteristic of induced AP while the altered levels of the lipoxygenase products (LTB 4 and 15-HETE) would be more of a nonspecific organ response associated to the high cellular infiltration rate and necrosis observed in the late phases of acute pancreatitis.