The findings related to the effects of somatostain and
octreotide in experimental and clinical
acute pancreatitis are so far inconclusive. In this study, we examined the early effects of prophylactic
octreotide in acute experimental
pancreatitis. Serum levels of
amylase and
lipase, pancreatic histopathology and systemic hemodynamic profiles, including mean arterial pressure, cardiac index, systemic vascular resistance and heart rate, were evaluated 5 hours after
glycodeoxycholic acid (GDOC) or
sodium taurodeoxycholate (TDC)-induced
pancreatitis with or without prophylactic
octreotide (10 micrograms/Kg) in rats, GDOC and TDC induced mild and severe
pancreatitis, respectively.
Octreotide significantly reduced serum levels of
amylase and
lipase at 5 hours in GDOC and TDC-induced
pancreatitis.
Octreotide significantly reduced the severity of pancreatic
edema,
necrosis and
hemorrhage in TDC-induced
pancreatitis. In addition, hemodynamic
shock in TDC-induced
pancreatitis was improved significantly by the administration of
octreotide (mean arterial pressure 70.3 +/- 7.7 vs. 95.0 +/- 3.5 mmHg, p < 0.05; cardiac index 16.7 +/- 2.5 vs. 24.0 +/- 5.1 ml.min-1. 100 g-1, p < 0.05). However,
octreotide did not show significant beneficial effect in pancreatic histopathology and hemodynamics in GDOC-induced
pancreatitis. Thus we conclude that prophylactic
octreotide improves pancreatic histopathology and hemodynamic
shock in TDC-induced
pancreatitis.