Effects of somatostatin on acute pancreatitis induced in rats by injection of taurocholate and trypsin into a temporarily closed duodenal loop

The effect of somatostatin on the course and severity of experimental pancreatitis was tested. Acute pancreatitis was induced in 210 Sprague-Dawley rats by injecting a 4.3% sodium taurocholate solution, saturated with trypsin, into a temporarily closed duodenal loop. Immediately after the end of the surgical procedure somatostatin or, alternatively, normal saline were administered as a bolus followed by continuous subcutaneous infusion for 9 h. Ninety rats (30 untreated, 30 saline-treated and 30 somatostatin-treated) were sacrificed 10 h after the induction of pancreatitis to assess the histologic severity of pancreatic lesions, the amount of peritoneal exudate and the circulating levels of amylase. In another 120 rats (40 untreated, 40 saline-treated and 40 drug-treated) the mortality rate was evaluated so that the histologic examination of the pancreas followed spontaneous death. In sacrificed animals somatostatin treatment lowered serum amylase levels and definitely improved pancreatic histopathology (edema, leucocyte infiltration and necrosis). The drug prevented the occurrence of severe necrosis in all treated animals. Somatostatin did not affect the mortality rate of pancreatitic rats (70%) although post-mortem histologic examination revealed significantly less pancreatic histopathology in drug-treated rats than in their controls.