Improvement of survival from hemorrhagic shock by enterectomy in rats: finding to implicate the role of the gut for irreversibility of hemorrhagic shock.

OBJECTIVE

This study used a Wiggers shock model to investigate the effect of the removal of the intestines on the outcome of hemorrhagic shock.

METHODS

Rats were subjected to laparotomy for the removal of the entire small and large intestines (experimental group) or a sham operation (control group) before bloodshedding. During the period of shock, animals were maintained at 30-35 mm Hg arterial pressure for 2 hours. After reinfusion of the shed blood, rats were observed for over 3 hours for survival. The average volumes (mean +/- SEM) of shed blood were 6.84 +/- 0.23 mL (experimental group) and 6.49 +/- 0.39 mL (control group), with no significant difference between the two (p > 0.05).

RESULTS

This protocol resulted in a 42% mortality (11 of 26) in the control group and 0% mortality (0 of 25) in the experimental group (p < 0.005, chi2). Moreover, in the survivors, the mean arterial pressure was significantly lower in the control (65.7 +/- 4.3 mm Hg) than in the experimental group (78.2 +/- 3.5 mm Hg) at the end of the experiment (p < 0.05). Comparing volume status, neither serial hematocrit values nor body weight changes through the experiment had a significant difference between the two groups (p's > 0.05). Serial quantitation of blood levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) revealed that systemic TNF-alpha concentrations peaked at 4 hours after shock in both groups. TNF-alpha levels were not reduced by enterectomy. Instead, the peak concentrations were significantly higher in the enterectomized (387.5 +/- 36.5 pg/mL, n = 13) than in the sham-enterectomized group (175.7 +/- 35.9 pg/mL, n = 12,p < 0.001). Limulus assay, used to detect endotoxins in the blood at 2 hours after restoration of blood volume, showed no endotoxemia in any specimen from either group. Four hours after hemorrhagic shock, blood levels of platelet-activating factor, quantitated by the radioimmunoassay method, were 2.88 +/- 0.18 ng/mL (experimental group, n = 8) and 2.32 +/- 0.32 ng/mL (control group, n = 6). The difference between these two means was not significant (p > 0.05). Measurement of hepatic adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the luminometric method showed that hepatic ATP contents were significantly reduced in both groups after shock (p's < 0.05). However, a higher magnitude of hepatic ATP depletion occurred in the control group; significantly lower amounts of ATP in the liver tissues of the sham-enterectomized group (367 +/- 95 nmol/g, n = 7) than in that of the enterectomized group (870 +/- 100 nmol/g, n = 13) were observed at 5 hours after shock (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

These experimental findings show that, in the absence of the intestines, hemorrhagic shock is associated with both an improved outcome and higher hepatic ATP levels in rats, suggesting the importance of intestinal participation in the process leading to hepatic ATP depletion as well as irreversibility in shock.