Dopamine inmodels ofalcoholic acutepancreatitis

Acuteoedematous pancreatitis andacute haemorrhagic pancreatitis werestudied using thelowpressure ductperfusion modelsof alcoholic pancreatitis incats. After creating either formover24hours, eachpancreas was histologically graded andassigned aninflammatoryscore(0-16; absent-severe). Urinary trypsinogen activation peptide concentrations werealso usedasameasure ofseverity. Using themodelofacute haemorrhagic pancreatitis, itwaspreviously shownthatlowdosedopamine(5,g/kg.m) reduced theinflammatory scoreat24hoursandthatthiseffect was mediated byareduction inpancreatic microvascular permeability acting viadopaminergic andbetaadrenergic receptors. Further studies wereconducted andarereported here. In experiment 1different dosesofdopamine in established alcoholic acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis werestudied. Ingroup1control cats (nodopamine), theinflammatory scorewas 10*5 (interquartile range (IQR)4). Ingroups 2, 3,and4,haemorrhagic pancreatitis was induced. Twelvehourslater dopamine was infused forsixhours, inthedosesof2,tg/ kg.min, 5,ug/kg.min, and50,ug/kg.min respectively. Theinflammatory score ingroup 2was7 (IQR0*5, p<005vgroup 1), ingroup 3itwas7 (IQR2,p<005vgroup 1), andingroup 4itwas 7(IQR4,p<005vgroup 1). Thiswasmatched bysignificantly lowerlevels ofurinary tripsinogen activation peptide at24hours. In experiment 2 (group 5)we tried toreduce microvascular permeability further bycombiningdopamine withantihistamines, butthere wasno improvement intheinflammatory score. Asoedematous pancreatitis isthecommonerandmilder formofacute pancreatitis in clinical practice, inexperiment 3welooked at theeffect ofdopamine inthis model. Ingroup 6 control cats(notreatment), theinflammatory score was7(IQR3,p<005vgroup1). Ingroup 7catsgiven dopamine (5,ug/kg.min forsix hours) from12hours after theonsetofacute oedematous pancreatitis, theinflammatory score wasreduced to4(IQR2,p<005vgroup 6). Thiswasmatched byasignificant reduction inthe24hoururinary tripsin activation peptide concentration. 1994; 35:547-55 1)