Action of tacrolimus in arginine induced experimental acute pancreatitis.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether tacrolimus administered to rats, in the presence of pancreatitis induced by L-Arginine, interferes with the serum levels of amylase and glucose and the histological pattern of the pancreatic parenchyma. METHODS Forty Wistar rats were divided into four groups with 10 rats each: control group (C), tacrolimus group (T), pancreatitis group (P) and pancreatitis-tacrolimus group (PT). We evaluated serum levels of amylase, glucose, and tacrolimus and made histological assessments of the pancreas. Induction of pancreatitis was made by inoculation of L-Arginine at a dose of 500 mg/100g body weight intraperitoneally, and tacrolimus treatment at a dose of 1ìg/kg subcutaneously for four days. RESULTS Serum amylase was higher (p = 0.0000) in groups PT, P and T than in the control group. The PT group mean was higher (p = 0.0009) than in the T group, but did not differ (p = 0.6802) from the average of the P group. There was no difference between groups P and T (p = 0.2568). Neither in mean blood glucose between the groups (p = 0.4920); serum levels of tacrolimus were similar in PT and T groups (p = 0.7112). There were no histological changes in groups T and C and no hemorrhage in the pancreas of rats in groups P and PT. In group P, there was no edema in 30%, mild edema in 20% and in 50%, moderate; as for inflammatory infiltration, it was moderate in 80% and absent in 20%, and atrophy of the parenchyma was moderate in 60% and severe in 40%. In the PT group, there was edema, inflammatory infiltration or atrophy in the pancreas in all rats. CONCLUSION Treatment with Tacrolimus induced an increase in serum amylase in normal mice, but did not affect blood glucose or the histological pattern of the pancreatic parenchyma. In the presence of pancreatitis induced by L-Arginine tacrolimus induced edema, inflammatory infiltration and more severe atrophy in the pancreatic parenchyma.