Histological Study on the Effect of Pyrrolidine Dithiocarbamate on Hepatic and Small Intestinal Injury Induced by Ischemia Reperfusion in Rats

Introduction: Restoration of the blood flow and reintroduction of oxygen after deprivation accelerate tissue injury. The insult of intestinal ischemia reperfusion (I/R) is not necessarily limited to the intestine itself, but involves the severe destruction of the other tissues because of the reperfused oxygenated blood. Many reports indicated that I/R is an important inciting event in the pathogenesis of multiple organ system failure, which is the leading cause of death in critically ill patients. So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the possible protective role of pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) on liver and small intestinal injury following mesenteric ischemia reperfusion. Materials and Methods: The study was performed on forty adult male albino rats weighting 200-250 gm that were divided into three groups. Group I: Control animals which divided into untreated and sham operated (10 animals each). Group II: Intestinal ischemia reperfusion animals, which were underwent one hour ischemia and two hours reperfusion. Group III: Animals received 200 mg/kg PDTC intraperitoneally one hour before intestinal ischemia reperfusion procedure. Parts were taken from the liver and jejunum were processed for histological examination and other jejunal parts for scanning electron microscopic examinations (SEM). Immunohistochemical expression of NF-KB factor in the liver was investigated. Results: A variety of changes were observed in the jejunum ranging from epithelial separation and loss of the brush border to cellular lysis, destruction of villi, cellular infiltrations, hemorrhages and basal glandular ulcerations. The liver showed areas of edema fluid, hemorrhages, mononuclear cellular infiltration and increased expression of NF-KB factor. Conclusion: Treatment with PDTC resulted in improvement in most of the histological changes induced by intestinal ischemia-reperfusion in the jejunum and liver. Therefore, PDTC can be considered as an effective protecting agent during intestinal ischemia reperfusion and can be used clinically in such instances.