| Abstract: | Objective To investigate the effect of ulinastatin (UTI) on hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. Methods Totally 24 adult Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: sham-operated control group (SO group), ischemia-reperfusion group (I/R group) and ulinastatin group (UTI group). Liver in I/R group underwent 1 h of reperfasion after 30 min of ischemia. In UTI group, UTI (2×104 U/kg) was administered to rats 30 min before modeling. The levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in serum were measured and the levels of nitric oxide and malondialdehyde in liver were determined. The histological changes of liver were observed. Results The levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and TNF-α in serum were significantly increased in I/R group compared with those in UTI group (P<0.05). The levels of nitric oxide and malondialdehyde in liver were significantly higher in I/R group than in UTI group (P<0.05).Histological examination of liver indicated that the damages were more severe in I/R group than in UTI group.Conclusion UTI has the ability to inhibit the production of TNF-α and oxyradical, and ameliorate microcirculatory dysfunction in rats with hepatic ischemia-reperfasion injury. |
