Effects of hypertonic saline solution and pentoxifylline on rat mesenteric microcirculation after hemorrhagic shock/reperfusion followed by cecal ligation/puncture: an intravital microscopic study

NK Nakagawa¹^,2, RA Nogueira¹, CA Obuti², CJ Correia¹, JWMC Cruz³, LF Poli de Figueiredo¹, M Rocha e Silva¹ and P Sannomiya¹

¹Research Division, Heart Institute (InCor), LIM-11 University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo – SP, Brazil

²UNICID, São Paulo – SP, Brazil

³Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Brazil

from Fourth International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine for Latin America
São Paulo, Brazil. 20–23 June 2007

Critical Care 2007, 11(Suppl 3):P7doi:10.1186/cc5794

The electronic version of this abstract is the complete one and can be found online at: http://ccforum.com/content/11/S3/P7

Published:

19 June 2007

Objective

Hemorrhagic shock/reperfusion followed by sepsis triggers systemic microcirculatory disturbances that may induce multiple organ failure. The present in-vivo study evaluated the effects of hypertonic saline solution (HSS) (7.5%, 4 ml/kg) and pentoxifylline (PTX) (4 mg/kg) on mesenteric microcirculation in double-injured rats.

Methods

Thirty-three anesthetized Wistar rats (~250 g) were randomly assigned to: (1) SHAM: no injury group; (2) HSS: hemorrhagic shock/reperfusion with HSS; (3) LR: hemorrhagic shock/reperfusion with lactated Ringer's solution (LR), three times shed blood volume; (4) HSS + PTX: hemorrhagic shock/reperfusion with HSS associated with PTX; and (5) LR + PTX: hemorrhagic shock/reperfusion with LR associated with PTX. The animals were submitted to cecal ligation/puncture (second injury).

Results

Leukocyte – endothelium interactions (Table 1) were assessed by intravital microscopy at mesenteric postcapillaric venules (~21.07 μm diameter).

Table 1. Leukocyte – endothelial interactions in mesenteric postcapillaric venules

Conclusion

The in-vivo observation of the rat mesenteric microcirculation showed that, in a double-injury model, reperfusion of the animals with HSS and PTX did attenuate the inflammation response compared with LR-reperfused animals.

Acknowledgements

Funded by FAPESP and PRONEX.

This article is part of the supplement: Fourth International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine for Latin America