Carbachol alleviates inflammation in gut tissue during ischemia/reperfusion in rats

Objective: To investigate the effects of carbachol on local inflammation in gut tissue during ischemia/reperfusion (I/R).

Methods: A jejunal sac was formed in Wistar rats. The superior mesenteric artery was occluded (SMAO) for 60 minutes followed by reperfusion for another 60 minutes. Animals were divided into three groups, pretreatment group (carbachol was injected into the jejunal sac 30 minutes after SMAO, 0.1 mg/kg), treatment group (carbachol was injected in same dosage into the jejunal sac 30 minutes after reperfusion), and controls (saline injection). The contents of tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-alpha) and activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in gut tissue were determined at 1 hours, 2.5 hours and 6 hours after SMAO.

Results: The contents of TNF-alpha and activity of MPO were significantly decreased in pretreatment and treatment groups compared with control group at 2.5 hours after SMAO (both P<0.05). There were no differences in both contents between pretreatment group and treatment group at any specified time. It was also found that there were less inflammatory pathological changes in the gut tissues in the two treated groups than that of control.

Conclusions: The RESULTS suggest that carbachol could alleviate gut inflammatory response during gut ischemia/reperfusion injury by inhibiting proinflammatory cytokine release.