Plasma Levels of t‐PA and PAI‐1 Correlate With the Formation of Experimental Post‐Surgical Peritoneal Adhesions

This study has evaluated whether systemic changes of plasminogenactivator (t-PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1)parallel the adhesions development and whether they could be usedas predictors of adhesion risk. This has been studied in an animalmodel of post-surgical peritoneal adhesion by monitoring for 10days the plasma and tissue levels of t-PA and PAI-1. The resultsshowed that both tissular and plasmatic levels of t-PAwere decreased in concomitance with the development of peritonealadhesions. In contrast, PAI-1 was found increased into the tissueand into the plasma samples of the rats taken at 5 and 10 daystime points. Inflammatory mediators such as ICAM-1, VCAM-1, andIL-6 within the peritoneal lavage fluid also correlated with theadhesion formation process. In conclusion, post-surgicalperitoneal adhesions provide alterations of local inflammatorycomponents and local and systemic fibrinolytic components,possibly with PAI-1 quenching t-PA. This may have potential forthe identification of high-risk patients