Protective effects of Acanthopanax vs. Ulinastatin against severe acute pancreatitis-induced brain injury in rats.

Abstract Objectives To observe the protecting effects of Acanthopanax and Ulinastatin against severe acute pancreatitis (SAP)-induced brain injury in rats. Methods SAP-modeled rats were equally randomized into three groups: model group, Acanthopanax -treated group and Ulinastatin-treated group. A sham-operation group was used as negative control. Serum tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-10 levels were assayed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Nuclear factor kappa B p65 (NF-κB p65) activity in the brain tissue was determined by immunohistochemistry. The mortality, pathological changes of the pancreas and brain, and expression of TNF-α mRNA, IL-6 mRNA and IL-10 mRNA in the brain tissue were observed at 6, 12 and 24 h after operations in all groups. Results The mortality of the model group was significantly higher than that of both treatment groups at 24 h (P  Acanthopanax and Ulinastatin groups at all designated time points (P > 0.05). Conclusions Acanthopanax and Ulinastatin have similar protecting effects against SAP-induced brain injury in rats.