Investigation of inhibition mechanism of ulinastatin (UTI) against oxidative injury in intestine ischemia reperfusion (IR) rats

Objective This study was designed to investigate the role and inhibition mechanism of ulinastatin(UTI) against oxidative injury in intestine ischemia reperfusion(IR) rats.Methods Forty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into three groups(Group A,B and C).Group A was the sham control.Animals in Groups B underwent 60 min of ischemia and 120 min of reperfusion.Rats in Group C underwent 60 min of ischemia and 120 min of reperfusion,received UTI(fifty thousand unit per Kg).The superoxide dismutase(SOD),catalase(CAT),glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) activities,and malondialdehyde(MDA) levels of serum and intestine mucosa were detected.At the same time,histological studies and scores were performed for evaluating intestine mucosa oxidative injury.Results The superoxide dismutase(SOD) level of IR group was significantly lower than that of sham group(P 0.01),whereas malondialdehyde(MDA) levels markedly increased(P 0.01).The antioxidase of intestine and serum in UTI group elevated significantly compared with that of IR group,whereas MDA level decreased significantly(P 0.01).Histological examination showed that intestine mucosa has suffered from severe damage in IR group.UTI treatment have reversed these abnormal enzymes activities and decreased intestine mucosa injury.Conclusion UTI may effectively scavenge free radicals in intestine IR rats,and decrease IR-induced oxidative injury in intestine mucosa in rats.