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Treatment with Salvia Miltiorrhiza prolongs the survival of rats with severe acute pancreatitis
Author(s) -
Zhang Xian,
Gao Qin,
Chen Weixing,
Li Youming,
Xia Qiang
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.a1145-b
Subject(s) - salvia miltiorrhiza , acute pancreatitis , pancreatitis , medicine , gastroenterology , pancreatic duct , therapeutic effect , microcirculation , hematocrit , pancreas , endocrinology , pharmacology , traditional medicine , traditional chinese medicine , pathology , alternative medicine
Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM) is a plant that has been used extensively as a traditional medicine for treating cardiovascular and liver diseases in China and Japan. It has been recognized that SM has anti‐oxidant effect and improves microcirculation. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic effect of SM in severe acute pancreatitis. Male Sprague‐Dawley rats were injected with caerulein intravenously to induce mild edematous pancreatitis or injected with 5% sodium taurocholate to the bilio‐pancreatic duct to induce severe necrotizing pancreatitis. The animals in the latter group were also injected with injectable SM (0.5g/kg, i.p.) to see if the treatment with SM improves their survival. Plasma superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was measured by the spectrophotometry method. In both models of acute pancreatitis, the plasma SOD activity was decreased, and the activity was significantly lower in rats with severe necrotizing pancreatitis than those in rats with mild edematous pancreatitis. The mean arterial pressure and survival rate were significantly improved by the treatment with SM, despite that the local inflammatory changes in the pancreas and various parameters (white blood cells, hematocrit, serum amylase, and serum interleukin‐6) were similar. The results indicate that Salvia miltiorrhiza is beneficial to acute pancreatitis and the antioxidant effect may be its underlying mechanism.