Volume 3 No. 3, July 2008

The Role of Nitric Oxide in Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury of the Pancreas in Adult Albino Rat: Histological, Immuno-Histochemical and Morphometric Study

Manal I. El-Bermawy

Department of Anatomy - Faculty of Medicine - Tanta University, Egypt


Tanta Med. Sc. J 2008; 3(3):48-65
Article type: Original article

Background/Aim: Ischemic–reperfusion injury, thus graft degeneration remains a major problem as post-operative management of organ transplantation. Also, ischemic injury to pancreas is known to occur in various clinical setting as, cardiac surgery, hemorrhagic shock and organs transplantation. This study was carried out to clarify the effect of nitric oxide (NO) drug (sodium nitroprusside) on the ischemic–reperfusion injury of the pancreas in adult albino rat, using histological, immuno-histochemical and morphometric study. Material & Methods: In this study, forty adult albino rats (regardless sex) were used. The animals were divided into two groups, a control and experimental groups. The control group was 15 rats and the experimental group was 25 rats. The latter group was exposed to pancreatic ischemia for an hour, after that subdivided into 5 subgroups, A, B ,C, D, E (5 rats each). In the first three subgroups, rats were allowed to pancreatic tissue reperfusion for 0, 24, and 48 hours respectively. While, in the last two subgroups rats were allowed to pancreatic tissue reperfusion for 24, 48 hours respectively associated with intra-peritoneal injection of sodium nitroprusside 0.3mg / kg /dose in 3 doses at 1,2,3 hours of reperfusion time. Specimens of pancreas of all groups were taken and prepared for histological, immuno-histochemical and morphometric study. Results: The experimental group: Subgroup (A); revealed no apparent histological or immuno-histochemical changes in pancreatic tissue. Subgroup (B) and subgroup (C); after 24 &48 h. reperfusion, signs of pancreatic tissue degeneration were obvious with marked reduction in functioning ß-cell until it became completely negative to insulin hormone reaction after 48h. reperfusion. Subgroup (D) and subgroup (E); showed marked regression in all signs of pancreatic tissue degeneration with marked increased positive immuno- histochemical reaction to insulin hormone in beta cells. Morphometric results: detected statistical significant changes in the average surface area of islets of Langerhans between the experimental different subgroups. Conclusion: This experimental study tried to demonstrate that NO had a protective role in ischemic-reperfusion injury of the pancreas. Therefore, administration of NO should be recommended for clinical cases in organs transplantation with good observation of the blood pressure.

ICID 871173