Hypertonic saline reverses stiffness in a Sprague-Dawley rat model of acute intestinal edema, leading to improved intestinal function.
BACKGROUND
Acute edema induced by resuscitation and mesenteric venous hypertension impairs intestinal transit and contractility and reduces intestinal stiffness. Pretreatment with hypertonic saline (HS) can prevent these changes. Changes in tissue stiffness have been shown to trigger signaling cascades via stress fiber formation. We proposed that acute intestinal edema leads to a decrease in intestinal transit that may be mediated by changes in stiffness, leading to stress fiber formation and decreased intestinal transit. Furthermore, HS administration will abolish these detrimental effects of edema.


RESULTS
Intestinal edema causes a significant increase in tissue water and a significant decrease in intestinal transit and stiffness compared with sham. HS reversed these changes to sham levels. In addition, tissue edema led to significant stress fiber formation and decreased numbers of focal contacts. HS preserved tissue stiffness, prevented stress fiber formation, and was associated with improved intestinal function.


CONCLUSIONS
HS eliminates intestinal tissue edema formation and improves intestinal transit. In addition, the action of HS may be mediated through its preservation of tissue stiffness, which leads to prevention of signaling via stress fiber formation, leading to preserved intestinal function. Finally, intestinal edema may provide a novel physiologic model for examining stiffness and stress fiber signaling.
Radhakrishnan
Ravi S
RS
Department of Surgery, University of Texas-Houston Medical School, Houston, TX, USA.
Radhakrishnan
Hari R
HR
Xue
Hasen
H
Moore-Olufemi
Stacey D
SD
Mathur
Anshu B
AB
Weisbrodt
Norman W
NW
Moore
Frederick A
FA
Allen
Steven J
SJ
Laine
Glen A
GA
Cox
Charles S
CS
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004487:Edema / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005772:Gastrointestinal Transit / Q000187:drug effects*; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012462:Saline Solution, Hypertonic / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D012462:Saline Solution, Hypertonic