CONTEXT Oxidative stress plays a role in the development of pancreatic fibrosis. OBJECTIVES In the present study, we hypothesized that the administration of an antioxidant complex could ameliorate cerulein and cyclosporin A pancreatic fibrosis, assessed by changes in oxidative stress and a histopathological study in an experimental rat model. ANIMALS Four groups of ten rats each. In Group A...

UNLABELLED Recent studies have shown that stimulation of cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptor reduces the area of ischemic myocardial necrosis and affects activity of the digestive tract. The aim of the present study was to check whether the administration of CB1 receptor agonist or antagonist affects the stress-induced gastric ulceration and development of edematous pancreatitis. METHODS Experiments...

Ghrelin is a ligand for growth hormone secretagogue receptor and stimulates release of growth hormone (GH). Recent studies have shown that treatment with ghrelin exhibits protective and therapeutic effect in the course of experimental pancreatitis. The aim of present study was to examine the role of GH and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in these effects. Acute pancreatitis was induced by ...

Calpain, a calcium-dependent cytosolic cysteine protease, is implicated in a multitude of cellular functions but also plays a role in cell death. Recently, we have shown that two ubiquitous isoforms, termed micro-calpain and m-calpain, are expressed in rat pancreatic acinar cells and that calcium ionophore-induced calpain activation leads to acinar cell injury. On the basis of these observation...

Clinical studies indicate that cigarette smoking increases the risk for developing acute pancreatitis. The nicotine metabolite 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) is a major cigarette smoke toxin. We hypothesized that NNK could sensitize to pancreatitis and examined its effects in isolated rat pancreatic acini and in vivo. In acini, 100 nM NNK caused three- and fivefold activat...

This study was designed to evaluate whether carvacrol (CAR) could provide protection against lung injury by acute pancreatitis development. The rats were randomized into groups to receive (I) no therapy; (II) 50 μg/kg cerulein at 1h intervals by four intraperitoneal injections (i.p.); (III) 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg CAR by one i.p.; and (IV) cerulein+CAR after 2h of cerulein injection. 12h later, s...

An early feature of acute pancreatitis is activation of zymogens, such as trypsinogen, within the pancreatic acinar cell. Supraphysiologic concentrations of the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK; 100 nM), or its orthologue cerulein (CER), induce zymogen activation and elevate levels of cAMP in pancreatic acinar cells. The two classes of adenylyl cyclase, trans-membrane (tmAC) and soluble (sAC), are ...

CONTEXT Hepatic injury is considered one of the critical complications associated with acute pancreatitis. It was proposed that initial insults to the liver in the early phase of the attack have an important priming effect, and the subsequent infectious attack (e.g. infectious pancreatic necrosis, bacterial translocation episode) constitutes a second attack on the liver. OBJECTIVE To evaluate...

OBJECTIVE Several platelet proteins are palmitoylated, but whether protein palmitoylation functions in platelet activation is unknown. We sought to determine the role of platelet protein palmitoylation in platelet activation and thrombus formation. METHODS AND RESULTS Platelet proteins were depalmitoylated by infusing acyl-protein thioesterase 1 into permeabilized platelets. In intact platele...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effects of emodin against calcium overload and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in an acute pancreatitis model in vitro. AR42J rat pancreatic acinar cells treated with cerulein (10(‑7) M) and lipoplysaccharide (LPS; 10 mg/l) were used to mimic acute pancreatitis in vitro. The amylase activity in cellular lysates and culture media w...