Morphological changes and morphological-functional correlations in acute experimental ischemia/reperfusion...

The etiology of acute pancreatitis, apart from alcohol abuse and cholelithiasis may also include a vascular component responsible for pancreatic ischemia. It is now acknowledged that chronic pancreatitis may be a consequence of the acute variant, but it remains unclear what factors influence this sequence of morphological changes. In order to clarify this issue we proposed a model of experimental acute pancreatitis in rats induced by a 30 min reduction of blood flow in inferior splenic artery followed by reperfusion. Rats were sacrificed at 1 h, 12 h, 24 h, and 2, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, 28 days after cessation of ischemia. We performed histopathological examination of pancreatic tissue and measured pancreatic blood flow, plasma amylase activity and interleukin-1 beta concentration. The present findings indicate that transient pancreatic ischemia leads to the development of acute necro-haemorrhagic pancreatitis. The morphological features of acute inflammation are correlated positively with functional disorders. In some cases the features of chronic pancreatitis may appear transiently after the acute phase, whereas the repair of postinflammatory injury involves the regeneration of acinar cells.