title: Healing of intestinal anastomoses in adrenalectomized rats given corticosterone.
abstract: To determine the effect of physiological variations in glucocorticoid levels on wound healing, adrenalectomized rats, implanted with corticosterone pellets of varying concentrations, and sham-operated rats were subjected to ileal transection followed by end-to-end anastomosis. Adrenalectomized animals with plasma corticosterone levels less than 2.5 micrograms/dl suffered 25% mortality. In rats surviving 1 wk, bursting pressure of the anastomotic site was measured as an index of wound healing. At plasma corticosterone levels of 3.9-7.4 micrograms/dl, which approximate normal physiological levels, bursting pressure was not significantly different from that in sham-adrenalectomized animals. In adrenalectomized rats with lower or higher corticosterone levels, bursting pressure was significantly reduced. Thus a narrow range of plasma corticosterone is required for optimal wound healing in this model; higher values tend to impair healing, as do subnormal values, perhaps because of slower protein turnover; low values also lead to high mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsusue
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walser
mesh_terms: D000302:Adrenal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D000315:Adrenalectomy; D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D000818:Animals; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007422:Intestines / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D011312:Pressure; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012086:Reoperation; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000187:drug effects; D014945:Wound Healing
chemical_list: D003345:Corticosterone