Published online Oct 28, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.6188
Revised: July 17, 2008
Accepted: July 24, 2008
Published online: October 28, 2008
AIM: To investigate the effect of Gardenia jasminoides (GJ) on cerulein-induced acute pancreatitis (AP) in mice.
METHODS: C57BL/6 mice weighing 18-20 g were divided into three groups. (1) Normal saline-treated group, (2) treatment with GJ at a dose of 0.1 g/kg, (3) treatment with GJ at a dose of 1 g/kg. GJ was administered orally (n = 6 per group) for 1 wk. Three hours later, the mice were given an intraperitoneal injection of cerulein (50 μg/kg), a stable cholecystokinin (CCK) analogue, every hour for a total of 6 h as described previously. The mice were sacrificed at 6 h after completion of cerulein injections. Blood samples were obtained to determine serum amylase, lipase and cytokine levels. The pancreas was rapidly removed for morphologic examination and scoring. A portion of pancreas was stored at -70°C and prepared for the measurement of tissue myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, an indicator of neutrophil sequestration, and for reverse-transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) and real-time PCR measurements.
RESULTS: Treatment with GJ decreased significantly the severity of pancreatitis and pancreatitis-associated lung injury. Treatment with GJ attenuated the severity of AP compared with saline-treated mice, as shown by reduction in pancreatic edema, neutrophil infiltration, serum amylase and lipase levels, serum cytokine levels, and mRNA expression of multiple inflammatory mediators.
CONCLUSION: These results suggest that GJ attenuated the severity of AP as well as pancreatitis-associated lung injury.