Abstract:

[Abstract] Objective? To study the protective effects of xingnaojing combined with ulinastatin on brain injury in severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) of rats. Methods? A total of 120 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 12 groups including normal control 6-hour group，control 24-hour group, SAP 6-hour group, SAP 24-hour group, xingnaojing treated 6-hour group, xingnaojing treated 24-hour group，ulinastatin treated 6-hour group, ulinastatin treated 24-hour group， xingnaojing and combined ulinastatin treated 6-hour group, xingnaojing and combined ulinastatin treated 24-hour group,positive control 6-hour group and positive control 24-hour group. Each group included 10 rats. Neurobehavioral scores were observed, and a series of blood samples，pancreatic tissue and brain tissue samples were obtained at 6 and 24 hours after operation respectively. The serum amylase，brain tissue content of Evans blue (EB), the histopathological change of pancreas and brain were observed. The serum levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-1β were measured with radioimmunoassay (RIA). Levels of TNF-α mRNA and IL-1β mRNA in rat brain tissues were measured by RT-PCR. Results? Compared with SAP 24-hour group, the serum amylase，brain tissue content of EB, histopathological scores of rat pancreas and brain tissues，serum TNF-α and IL-1β, TNF-α mRNA and IL-1β mRNA in brain tissues were significantly decreased while neurobehavioral scores were significantly increased in xingnaojing combined ulinastatin treated 24-hour group (P < 0.01). However，there were no significant differences in all indexes between xingnaojing combined ulinastatin treated 24-hour group and positive control 24-hour group (P﹥0.05). Conclusion? Xingnaojing combined with ulinastatin plays a protective role in brain injury of SAP in rats.

Key words: Severe acute pancreatitis, Brain injury, Blood brain barrier, Xingnaojing, Ulinastatin, Tumor necrosis factor a, Interleukin 1β