endothelin-1 and Appendicitis

In this study, the diagnostic value of serum endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels and the therapeutic effects of bosentan have been investigated in an experimental appendicitis rat model.. Twenty-one male Sprague-Dawley rats were chosen for the study. The rats were allocated into three groups as follows: Group 1 (control, n = 7), Group 2 (appendicitis, n = 7), and Group 3 (bosentan treatment, n = 7). At the 6th hour of the experiment, Groups 1 and 2 received 2 ml saline, and group 3 received 30 mg/kg bosentan intraperitoneally. At the 24th postoperative hour, all rats were sacrificed and evaluated histopathologically to score the severity of appendicitis. The plasma malondialdehyde, reduced and total glutathione levels, serum, and appendiceal tissue ET-1 levels were evaluated.. In this study, we found that the ET-1 levels were significantly increased with appendicitis (p = 0.018). The administration of bosentan can statistically significantly both decrease the histopathologic injury in the inflamed appendix and increase the serum total glutathione levels (p = 0.002).. The increase in plasma ET-1 levels may have a diagnostic value of acute appendicitis. We believe that manifestations that occur during the acute phase of appendicitis may be reduced with the administration of bosentan, which may also help prevent complications.

Topics: Animals; Appendicitis; Bosentan; Endothelin Receptor Antagonists; Endothelin-1; Male; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Sulfonamides

Because the precise immunopathological events occurring in appendicitis are not completely understood, possible local production of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in human appendix was investigated. We used immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization to detect the presence, distribution, and phenotype of ET-1-positive cells and prepro-ET-1 (pp-ET-1) mRNA-expressing cells. ET-1-positive stromal cells and pp-ET-1 mRNA-expressing cells were detected with different distributions and relative frequencies in normal control appendix, histologically normal appendix, and inflamed appendix. Six of 20 histologically normal appendixes from patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis had many ET-1-positive stromal cells and high pp-ET-1 mRNA expression, similar to inflamed appendix. Forty percent of the pp-ET-1 mRNA-expressing cells were neutrophils, and the other positive cells were mast cells and macrophages. We suggest that local production of ET-1 by neutrophils and other inflammatory cells could be a molecular sign of focal inflammation in histologically normal appendixes and that ET-1 could be implicated, with other cytokines, in the pathogenesis of appendicitis by inducing appendiceal ischemia through vasoconstriction.

Topics: Appendicitis; Appendix; Endothelin-1; Endothelins; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; In Situ Hybridization; Macrophages; Mast Cells; Neutrophils; Peptides; Phenotype; Protein Precursors; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA Probes; RNA, Messenger