AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 263, Issue 1 164-R168, Copyright © 1992 by American Physiological Society
Healing of intestinal anastomoses in adrenalectomized rats given corticosterone
S. Matsusue and M. Walser
Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.
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.
