Protective effects of ulinastatin on pancreatic and renal damage in rats following early scald injury

Organ protection is a routine therapy in severe burn/scald injuries, and damage following early scald injury was not been fully elucidated. Our aim was to verify the beneficial effects of ulinastatin on pancreatic and renal damage associated with scald injury. Lewis rats were subjected to 30% total body surface area (TBSA) scald injury, and were randomly divided into a burn control (S group) and an ulinastatin-treated group (U group). Pancreatic malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels were determined. Serum amylase, serum creatinine (Scr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were identified and the kidneys were examined histologically with immunohistochemistry (IHC) as well for the MHC class I chain-related antigen A (MICA) and BcI-2 at 0, 1, 6, 12, 18, 24,48 and 72 h after the injury. Ulinastatin decreased MDA levels and ameliorated the down-regulation of SOD activity. MICA was up-regulated after the scald, and this up-regulation was greatly diminished by ulinastatin. BcI-2 was up-regulated after the scald, especially in the U group. From 24 to 72 h, in comparison with the U group, higher levels of BUN, Scr and serum amylase were observed in the S group which were all lower than the common upper limits. Our results demonstrated that pancreatic and renal damage associated with autoimmunity and oxidant attack occurred after severe scald. Ulinastatin exhibits significant protective effects on these effects. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.