Effects of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists on responses to hemorrhagic shock in rats

To evaluate the effects of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonists on mortality and inflammatory responses after hemorrhagic shock (HS) in rats.

One hundred and two male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to one of the following three groups: Control, spironolactone (SPL), and eplerenone (EP) groups. HS was induced by the removal of blood. One half of rats were evaluated to determine mortality, hemodynamics, plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) concentrations, and arterial blood gas at 8 h after HS recovery. In the remainder of rats, the expression levels of genes encoding cytokines were evaluated in liver tissue samples at 1 h after HS recovery.

The survival rates 8 h after HS recovery were 71%, 94%, and 82% in the control, SPL, and EP groups, respectively. There were no significant differences in survival rates among the three groups (P = 0.219). Furthermore, there were no significant differences in gene expression levels in the liver or plasma TNF-α concentrations among the three groups (P = 0.888).

Pretreatment with MR antagonists did not improve mortality or cytokine responses in the liver after HS recovery in rats.