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Epidermal growth factor treatment prevents intestinal injury in weanling mice with septic peritonitis
Author(s) -
Dominguez Jessica A.,
Coopersmith Craig M.
Publication year - 2010
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.24.1_supplement.1007.2
Subject(s) - weanling , epidermal growth factor , sepsis , medicine , gastroenterology , peritonitis , apoptosis , biology , receptor , biochemistry
Sepsis is common in infants with a mortality rate of >30%. Neonates are susceptible to intestinal injury due to an immature gastrointestinal tract. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) has trophic and maturational effects on the intestine. The aim of this study was to determine if EGF treatment prevents sepsis‐induced intestinal injury and improves survival in weanling mice. Three‐week old mice were subjected to 2×25 cecal ligation and puncture or sham laparotomy and were treated postoperatively with or without EGF (150 μg/kg/d i.p.). At 24 hr, intestines were evaluated for apoptosis, proliferation, and villus length. Survival studies were done in a separate cohort of mice. Compared to shams, septic mice had increased intestinal apoptosis (72 ± 14 vs. 6 ± 1 cells/100 crypts; p<0.001) and decreased proliferation (629 ± 54 vs. 1207 ± 37 cells/100 crypts; p<0.001), while EGF normalized both to sham levels (12 ± 1 vs. 6 ± 1 and 1064 ± 44 vs. 1207 ± 37 cells/100 crypts, respectively; p=ns). Septic mice had shorter villi compared to shams, and EGF resulted in normalization to shams (216 ± 3 vs. 398 ± 22 vs. 456 ± 26 μm; p<0.001 and p=ns). EGF treatment resulted in improved 7‐day mortality (50% vs. 83%), but the difference was not statistically significant. EGF preserves intestinal integrity in a weanling model of septic peritonitis, and thus may be a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of neonatal sepsis. NIH GM66202 & GM082008.