Sepsis and its sequela remain a major source of morbidity and mortality in neonates despite advances in antimicrobials and aggressive supportive care. Many models of
neonatal sepsis have been developed for investigating the pathophysiology of this disease and application of
therapy, and a model with an infectious focus is closer to clinical reality. To establish an animal model that mimics the clinical characteristics of
neonatal sepsis, the cecal devascularization and perforation procedure was implemented on 15 mixed-strain newborn piglets, which produced an infectious focus that acted as a continuous source of microorganisms to the peritoneal cavity. The mean survival time in animals with
sepsis was 10.4 h (range 5.5-17.9 h), whereas all of the
sham-operated control animals survived more than 24 h. Animals with
sepsis showed a gradual significant decrease in the mean systemic blood pressure (mSBP; 71 +/- 3 mmHg in
sepsis vs. 64 +/- 3 mmHg in control at 3 h, 38 +/- 7 mmHg in
sepsis vs. 59 +/- 4 mmHg in control at 6 h, mean +/- SEM). They also showed an increase of serum levels of
endotoxin (5.6 x 10 +/- 4.5 x 10 pg/mL in
sepsis vs. 6.0 x 10 +/- 3.8 x 10 pg/mL in control at 6 h). Serum levels of
TNF-alpha in the animals with
sepsis became significantly higher than the control animals at 0 h (96 +/- 31 pg/mL in
sepsis vs. 12 +/- 1 pg/mL in control) and remained significantly higher than all through the experiment. Serum levels of
IL-6 in animals with
sepsis showed a gradual increase (484 +/- 231 pg/mL in
sepsis in its peak at 6 h vs. 24 +/- 5 pg/mL in control), however, there were no significant differences in serum
IL-10 levels between the groups. Microorganisms detected in the blood of animals with
sepsis were gram-negative enteric and anaerobic organisms. These results suggested that this model mimics the clinical state of
neonatal sepsis and hence may have significant implications for the treatment of
sepsis, including its use as a model in further investigations.