Exacerbation of Rat Caerulein-Induced Pancreatitis by Pancreatic Bile Duct Obstruction

Masanao Adachi, Yoshifumi Takeyama, Takashi Ueda, Yoichi Saitoh

Department of Surgery (First Division), Kobe University School of Medicine

Biliary pancreatitis, which usually remains as mild edematous pancreatitis, sometimes progresses to serious hemorrhagic necrotizing pancreatitis. However, the mechanism of the pancreatic hemorrhagic change in this disease is still unclear. In this study, to elucidate the influence of obstruction of duodenal papilla on mild edematous pancreatitis, we investiaged the effect of the pancreatic bile duct ligation on caerulein-induced pancreatitis in rats, which is generally accepted as a model of mild edematous pancreatitis. In the rats, in which the pancreatic bile ducts were ligated at their ends 1 h before continuous intravenous administration of caerulein at a supramaximal dose (5 µg/kg/h), the serum amylase level was as much as 4-fold higher than in the rats with routine caerulein-induced pancreatitis, and a hemorrhagic change in the pancreas occurred 5 h after the beginning of the caerulein administration. Even when the bile duct was ligated additionally on the level of the porta hepatis in this model, the same hemorrhagic change in the pancreas was observed. On the other hand, the rats in which the pancreatic bile duct was ligated 2 h after the beginning of the caerulein administration, the hemorrhagic change in the pancreas was not observed. These results suggest that pancreatic-duct hypertension in the absence of the toxic effects of regurgitated bile can develop hemorrhagic change in the pancreas in a condition in which pancreatic-duct hypertension precedes the mild edematous pancreatitis.

Key words
biliary pancreatitis, hemorrhagic pancreatitis, pancreatic duct obstruction, caerulein-induced pancreatitis, pancreatic duct hypertension

Reprint requests
Yoshifumi Takeyama First Department of Surgery, Kobe University School of Medicine
7-5-2 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, 650 JAPAN

Accepted
September 9, 1992

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