ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the effect of ulinastatin (UTI) on severe heatstroke-induced intestinal mucosal barrier function. Methods The SPF male BALB/c mice are randomly divided into control group that in which the mice were not exposed to heat stress 42°C heat-stress group. lower-dose UTI group (5000U/kg) and higher-dose UTI group (10 000U/kg) before 42°C heat stress. The morphological change of the small intestinal pathological tissue, the rate of intestinal bacterial translocation, and inflammatory cytokines level, diamine oxidase (DAO) activity and D-lactic acid concentration in plasma were observed. Survival curve was described by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank test. Results Compare to control group, the UTI treatment significantly alleviated villous edema, necrosis and of intestinal mucosa, infiltration of inflammatory cells was significantly reduced and the bacterial translocation, DAO activity and D-lactic acid concentration were also obviously decreased, especially in higherdose group. There were statistically significant differences between treatment and control groups (P<0.05). Conclusion UTI has a protective effect against the damage of intestinal mucosal during the early stage of severe heatstroke.