Protecting effects of dexamethasone on thymus of rats with severe acute pancreatitis.

Abstract

PURPOSE: To study the protecting effects of dexamethasone on thymus of rats with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). METHODS: The SAP rats were randomly assigned to the model group and dexamethasone-treated group, the other normal healthy rats were assigned to the sham operation group. The rat survival, thymus pathological changes, apoptotic index, as well as expression levels of NF-kappaB, P-selectin, Bax, Bcl-2, and Caspase-3 protein of all groups were observed, respectively, at 3 hours, 6 hours, and 12 hours. The contents of amylase and endotoxin in plasma as well as the contents of TNF-alpha, PLA2, and NO in serum were determined. RESULTS: There was no marked difference between the model group and treated group in survival. The contents of different indexes in blood of treated group were lower than those of the model group to various degrees at different time points. The thymus pathological score was lower in treated group than in model group at 12 hours. The treated group in Caspase-3 protein expression of thymus significantly exceeded the model group at 12 hours. The apoptotic index was significantly higher in treated group than in model group. CONCLUSION: Dexamethasone has protecting effects on thymus of SAP rats.