Protective effects of polyethylene oxide on the vascular and organ function of rats with severe hemorrhagic shock

This study examined the effects of polyethylene oxide (PEO) on the survival rate, hemodynamics, blood gas indexes, lactic acid levels, microcirculation, and inflammatory cytokine levels in rats subjected to severe hemorrhagic shock. The shocked rats were resuscitated with either Ringer's lactate solution or 20 ppm of PEO in Ringer's lactate solution for 1 h. It was found that infusion of PEO effectively improved the survival, metabolic acidosis, oxygen delivery, hyperlactacidemia, tissue perfusion, and inflammatory responses of rats subjected to hemorrhagic shock. In addition, we found, for the first time, that PEO showed protective effects on hepatic and renal injury, as evidenced by the significant decreases in the elevated levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine caused by shock induction after infusion of PEO (p < 0.05, 60 min post-resuscitation by comparison with pre-resuscitation). All of these findings indicate that PEO exhibits strong therapeutic effects under conditions of severe hemorrhagic shock,which also provides theoretical and experimental bases for the clinical use of PEO.