The effect of vasopressin on gastric wound healing.

The gastric incisions of rabbits intra-arterially infused with vasopressin were analyzed for collagen synthesis, tensile strength and inflammatory reaction for five, ten and 20 days from the time of wounding. Significant differences were looked for in the collagen content of treated and untreated wounds. Tensile strength of a strip of gastric wound with sutures removed was tested on a motor driven tensiometer. The breaking point of the strip in grams of weight required was used as the end point. A portion of tissue from the wound site of each of the 36 rabbits was processed for microscopic examination, and the resulting slides were labeled with code numbers to preserve blind conditions. The effect of vasopressin on the healing of a standard gastric incision in the rabbit was studied. When compared with those rabbits in the control study which were infused with a saline solution alone, no significant difference was found in tensile strength, inflammatory response or synthesis of new collagen, as determined by the hydroxyproline ratio. There would appear to be no adverse effects upon gastric wound healing as a result of intra-arterially infused vasopressin in the concentrations used in this experiment.