Effects of octreotide on acute pancreatitis of varying severity in rats

Objective: To find out the effects of the octreotide on the course of acute pancreatitis in rats. Design: Prospective laboratory study. Setting: Medical school, Turkey Animals: 184 Sprague-Dawley rats, 120 of wh ich were randomly allocated into 8 groups of 15 each for the survival study , and the remainder of which were randomly allocated into 8 groups of 8 rat s each for assessment of biochemical variables and histological score. Intenventions: The same 8 groups were used for the two parts of the study: saline alone (control), octreotide alone (control), oedematous pancreatitis induced by cerulein with and without octreotide, moderate pancreatitis ind uced by low-dose glycodeoxycholic acid and cerulein with and without octreo tide, and severe pancreatitis induced by high-dose glycodeoxycholic acid an d cerulein with and without octreotide. Main outcome measures: Mortality, results of biochemical tests, and histolo gical score. Results: No rats in the control groups died. Of those with oed ematous pancreatitis I died that had not been given octreotide (7%) and 2 t hat had (13%). In the moderate pancreatitis groups 4 that had not been give n octreotide died (27%) compared with one that had (7%). In the severe panc reatitis group 7 that had not had octreotide died (46%) compared with 6 tha t had (40%). Octreotide caused a reduction in serum amylase and lactate deh ydrogenase activity in all groups, but reduced aspartate aminotransferase o nly in those rats with moderate pancreatitis. It prevented hypocalcaemia in rats with severe pancreatitis, but had no effect on serum electrolyte conc entrations, alkaline phosphatase activity, or blood gas analyses. Rats with moderate pancreatitis that had been given octreotide had less tissue oedem a, acinar necrosis, and inflammatory cell infiltration. In those with seven pancreatitis there was less tissue oedema but more acinar necrosis. Conclusion: If octreotide is given early in the course of the disease it ma y result in improved outcome, but it seems to be ineffective in severe panc reatitis in which acinar necrosis is already established.