THE EFFECT OF CYCLOSPORINE IN GUT ISCHEMIC-INJURY - A COMPUTERIZED MORPHOMETRIC AND ENZYMATIC ANALYSIS

Purpose: Gut ischemia has been implicated in the pathogenesis of necro tizing enterocolitis. Cyclosporine A (CSA), a potent immunosuppressant , attenuates immune/inflammatory cellular reactions. CSA also might be useful for inhibiting cellular immune responses involved in tissue is chemia/reperfusion injury. The authors hypothesized that CSA would att enuate inflammatory cellular changes associated with gut ischemic inju ry and that these effects could be quantified by computerized morphome try. Methods: Twenty Sprague-Dawley rats underwent 60 minutes of gut i schemia by vascular occlusion of the superior mesenteric vessels. Afte r 1 hour of reperfusion, the ischemic small bowel was harvested for hi stopathological examination and computerized morphometry, as well as x anthine oxidase (XO, U/mg protein) and maltase (MALT, mmol/L substrate degraded/min/mg protein) assays. CSA (5 mg/kg/d subcutaneously) was g iven to experimental animals (CSA, n = 10) for 5 days before ischemia, and vehicle was given to controls (CON, n = 10). The computer morphom etric parameters studied were: surface index (SI, mucosal surface leng th per linear unit of intestine), average villous thickness (AVT), and average villous height (AVH). Results: Results are provided in Table 1. Conclusion: The results of this study show that CSA may play a role in attenuating ischemia/reperfusion injury in the gut. Enzymatic anal ysis showed a beneficial role in the preservation of mucosal cell func tion after gut ischemia/reperfusion injury, as demonstrated by an elev ated maltose level. Computerized morphometry demonstrated significant differences in all parameters in the experimental group, showing that CSA does confer gut mucosal protection during ischemia. Copyright (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company