The effect of inducible nitric oxide synthase on postoperative adhesion formation in rats

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the effect of iNOS on adhesion formation and to assess whether inhibition of iNOS expression affected adhesion formation according to adhesion maturation days. Study design: Forty Wistar Albino rats were subjected to standardized lesion by cecal abrasion and parietal peritoneal defect and were randomly divided into four groups. Group I (control) received no treatment; groups II–IV received N -acetyl-cystein (NAC) 15 mg/100 g per day intramuscularly on days 4–14, 0–14 and 0–3, respectively, after surgery. On the postoperative 14th day adhesion score, tissue iNOS expression, inflammatory cell reaction (ICR) and tissue fibrosis score were determined. Results: Inflammation score of groups I and II was lower than that of groups III and IV ( P P Conclusion: iNOS inhibition during the first 3 days postoperatively caused a delay in the resolution of inflammatory cell reaction. On the other hand, when inhibited after the first 3 days, adhesion formation and fibrosis were reduced both clinically and histopathologically.