Short term protective effect of digitoxin in sepsis-induced acute lung injury

Bahattin Özkul,Canan Hürdağ,Oytun Erbaş,İbrahim Söğüt,Mümin Alper Erdoğan,İbrahim Halil Sever,Ejder Saylav Bora

doi:10.32604/biocell.2022.018510

Abstract

Purpose: Digitoxin is a cardiac glycoside used in the treatment of heart failure. Inspired by its known anti-inflammatory effect, this study aims to investigate the effect of digoxin in a sepsis model and to bring to light its effect and underlying mechanism in acute lung injury (ALI). Method: 28 wistar albino rats were divided into 4 groups. Sepsis model is performed by the feces intraperitoneal-injection procedure (FIP). Results: TNF-a, CRP, IL-6, IL 1-Beta, lactic acid, and MDA values were significantly decreased in the FIP+digitoxin group compared to the FIP+Saline group. When the same groups were examined, histological improvements such as decrease in alveolar inflammation and decrease in septal thickening in the digitoxin group and thorax CT were found to be significantly higher in the Hounsfield unit digitoxin group compared to the Saline group. Conclusion: Digitoxin has shown biochemical improvement in sepsis with all known mechanisms of action, and healing effects in both computerized tomography and histology in the lung.

Highlights

Sepsis and septic shock are common health problems with high mortality rates, affecting millions of patients every year
Biochemical findings The tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-1b, IL-6, and MDA plasma levels were significantly higher in the feces intraperitoneal-injection procedure (FIP)+saline group compared to the control group (p < 0.001)
The TNF-a, CRP, IL-1b, IL-6, and MDA plasma levels in the FIP+digitoxin group were lower than the FIP+saline group (p < 0.001)

Summary

Introduction

Sepsis and septic shock are common health problems with high mortality rates, affecting millions of patients every year. Overreaction of inflammatory mediators against infectious pathogens plays a key role in the disease development This extreme reaction in septic shock drives a vicious circle of. Septic shock is the most common etiology of ALI, and patients with sepsis-triggered ALI have higher mortality rates than those with other risk factors (Nguyen et al, 2006). Targeted therapy in patients with septic shock has reduced the proportion of patients needing mechanical ventilators (Paul, 2018). These findings suggest that the treatment of underlying sepsis and the identification of patients at risk of developing ALI are of paramount importance

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