title: Oxytocin or social housing alleviates local burn injury in rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Thermal injury may cause distant organ inflammation and multiorgan failure. Oxytocin (OT), a nonapeptide, modulates the immune and inflammatory processes.
  
  
  METHODS
  To investigate the effects of oxytocin on burn-induced tissue injury, Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a partial thickness burn. Immediately after burn, half of the burned rats were placed single in the cages, while others were caged in groups. All the rats then were treated with either OT (5 microg/kg, s.c) or saline twice daily for 5 d. The control rats had no burn injury and received no treatments. On day 5, the rats were decapitated, tissue and serum samples were obtained to score the severity of damage and to assay TNF-alpha levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Burn trauma resulted in oxidative ileal damage, as evidenced by increased apoptotic rate, increased neutrophil recruitment, and enhanced lipid peroxidation. OT treatment depressed the TNF-alpha level and alleviated dermal degeneration, while attenuating ileal damage. Although a higher degree of skin damage was observed in the animals kept isolated following burn injury, keeping the rats in groups did not affect the level of TNF-alpha or the severity of dermal or ileal injury, but abolished the burn-induced elevations in ileal lipid peroxidation and myeloperoxidase activity. Moreover, OT treatment reduced the ileal apoptosis when applied to rats housed in groups, while the treatment did not alter apoptotic ratio in the isolated rats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Oxytocin can be considered as a potential agent in treating burn-induced distant organ injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Marmara University, School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sevgin Ozlem
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Işeri
authors.forename: Fikret
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Düşünceli
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Erzik
authors.forename: Bahar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Uslu
authors.forename: Serap
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arbak
authors.forename: Berrak C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Yeğen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D002056:Burns / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D053938:DNA Fragmentation / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006799:Housing, Animal; D007077:Ileal Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D007082:Ileum / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000378:metabolism; D010120:Oxytocics / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009195:Peroxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012867:Skin / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology; D012931:Social Environment; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D010120:Oxytocics; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D010121:Oxytocin; D009195:Peroxidase