More than an uterotonic agent: oxytocin prevents peritoneal adhesion.

Prevention of postoperative adhesions (PPA) has become an important issue. The aim is to investigate the effect of Oxytocin (OT) on PPAs. A total of thirty female Wistar-albino rats were randomly divided into three groups (10 rats/group). The cecal peritone of Group I rats (controls) were scraped, to trigger adhesion formation, and no treatment were given. After cecal scrubbing, 1 mL saline solution was applied to each rat in Group II (i.p. saline treated group) and 80 IU/kg of OT (Pituisan®, Ege Vet, Turkey) to Group III (i.p. OT treated group) intraperitoneally. All animals were sacrificed 10 days after surgery and adhesions graded in terms of severity and histopathologic characteristics. The median scores for the extent, severity, and degree of adhesions in Group I and Group II were statistically significant and considerably higher than those scores for Group III (P<0.001). The inflammation, neovascularization, and fibrosis scores for Group III were statistically significant and considerably lower than those scores for Groups I and II (P<0.001, P<0.001 and P=0.002 respectively). OT, significantly prevented adhesion formation improving wound healing possibly by suppressing adhesion formation with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. OT may be useful in the prevention of PPA in humans.