Early administration of methylprednisolone promotes survival in rats with intra-abdominal sepsis.
We determined how the following drugs affected survival of 350-gm Sprague-Dawley rats subjected to intra-abdominal sepsis according to the method of Wichterman et al (J Surg Res 29:189-201, 1980): gentamicin (4.5 mg/kg/day), clindamycin (30 mg/kg/day), naloxone (2 mg/kg/hr), or methylprednisolone given either as a continuous infusion (2 mg/kg/hr) or as a bolus (30 mg/kg). A control group received only saline in a volume equal to the drug vehicle volume. Treatment was started immediately after cecal ligation and puncture. Drugs not given by bolus were infused by Alzet mini-pump (Model 2001) for 7 days. Percent of original population surviving at 10 days was (size of original population): saline--48% (92), antibiotics--86% (43), naloxone--30% (43), continuous methylprednisolone--14% (43), bolus methylprednisolone--93% (45). Survival of animals receiving either antibiotics or bolus methylprednisolone was significantly increased over the control population.
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002432:Cecum; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D008026:Ligation; D008297:Male; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009270:Naloxone / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011677:Punctures; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D009270:Naloxone; D008775:Methylprednisolone