Protective effect of ulinastatin on myocardium of rats with sepsis

Objective To observe the occurrence of myocardial injury in rats with sepsis,the intervention effect of ulinastatin and its protection mechanisms on myocardium in rats with sepsis.Methods Thirty SD rats were randomly divided into three groups:sham operation group (group A),sepsis group (group B) and ulinastatin group (group C).Twenty-four hours after the sepsis model had been constructed by cecal ligation and puncture(CLP),blood samples were collected to measure serum levels of cardiac troponin Ⅰ(cTn Ⅰ),brain natrium peptide (BNP),blood serum cytokines [tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α),interleukin-6 (IL-6),IL-10],plasma nitrogen monoxidum (NO) levels and malondialdehy de (MDA).Meanwhile,the NF-κB levels of myocardium were measured.Results The plasma levels of cTn Ⅰ,TNF-α,IL-6,NO,MDA and NF-KB expression level in myocardium tissue of sepsis group were significantly higher than those of sham group (P ＜ 0.05),while such indexes (cTn Ⅰ,BNP,TNF-α,IL-6,NO and MDA) in ulinastatin group were higher than those in sham operation group,but were significantly lower than those in sepsis group and the level of IL-10 was significantly higher in ulinastatin group than that in sepsis group (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions There exists cardiac injury in septic rats,and the inflammatory factors increased.Ulinastatin could alleviate myocardial injury by reducing inflammatory factors (TNF-α,IL-6)levels,inhibiting NO and free radical mediated tissue injury. Key words: Sepsis ;  Myocardial injury ;  Ulinastatin ;  Cytokine ;  Tumor necrosis factor-α ;  Interleukin-6