[Acute pancreatitis after local infusion of divalent cations]

The association of hypercalcemia and acute pancreatitis had been experimentally reproduced in cats by local infusions of the divalent cation calcium whereas the monovalent cation potassium did not induce any pancreatic pathology. The purpose of the present study was therefore to investigate the role of further divalent cations in order to determine the relevance of ion valency for pancreatitis induction. Anesthetized male SIV-rats received divalent cations, of which a role in the pancreas had already been reported in the literature, through retrograde infusions into the splenic artery at a dose of 0.6 mmol/kgh for 3 hours and at a flow of 0.5-1.0 ml/h. The pancreas was then removed for morphologic studies. In the animals treated with calcium and manganese, pancreas showed a hemorrhagic necrosis of the acinar lobuli with leucocytic infiltrates. The barium treated animals spontaneously died after 49 +/- 15 minutes and revealed acute pancreatitis in the perfused, but not in the residual pancreas. Zinc at the initial dose induced an immediate heparin-refractory blood-clotting with subsequent ischemic necrosis whereas a lower dosis (0.002 mmol/kgh) led to an acute pancreatitis as seen after calcium. The magnesium treated animals and the controls did not reveal any pathology. We conclude that some divalent cations may induce an acute pancreatitis, but that the induction is not dependent on the cation valency.