EFFECTS OF INTERLEUKIN-6 AND ITS NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES ON PERITONEAL ADHESION FORMATION AND WOUND-HEALING

This study investigates the effects of preoperative IV administration of IL-6 and anti IL-6 on peritoneal adhesion formation and wound heali ng. Thirty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats (350-400 mg) were divided into three groups: control (group 1); IL-6 (group 2), and anti IL-6 (group 3). Under sterile conditions, all rats underwent a midline laparotomy . Ten cm(2) of cecal serosa was abraded, the cecum further irritated w ith 0.1 mL of 70 per cent alcohol, and the incision closed in layers. At 3 weeks, peritoneal adhesions were graded using a score of 0 (none) to 3 (extensive, dense). Skin samples from incisional sites were exam ined tensiometrically (true stress and true strain), biochemically (co llagen content), and histologically. Adhesion formation score was sign ificantly increased in IL-6 group (2.78 +/- 0.44, Mean +/- SD) and dec reased in anti IL-6 group (1.40 +/- 0.52) compared to control (2.00 +/ - 0.50). (P < 0.03 by Kruskal Wallis test). There was no significant d ifference in true stress, true strain, and collagen content between th e two treatment groups and controls at the 0.05 level by ANOVA. Histol ogical analysis showed higher number of inflammatory cells and fibrobl asts in IL-6 treated groups. We conclude that IL-6 plays a major role in peritoneal adhesion formation. Selective immunosuppression, using I L-6 neutralizing antibodies preoperatively, leads to a reduction of su ch adhesion formation without a significant effect on wound healing.