ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the correlation between dose and effect of thioacetamide (TAA) on rat model of intestinal endotoxemia. Methods The models of intestinal endotoxemia were induced by three different doses of TAA by gavage administration of TAA 200, 400, 600mg/kg respectively once per day for two days.The doses were given at same time point every day. Each group included 10 rats. The rats in the control group were administrated with 2 mL 0.9% NaCl saline gavage. The death of the rats was observed at 24 hours and 48 hours after administration. The blood samples of the living rats were drawn from abdominal aorta for determining the plasma endotoxin levels, serum alanine aminotransferase(ALT)and aspartated transaminase (AST) levels. The histopathological changes of liver were examined. Single factor analysis of variance was performed and comparision between groups was done using t test. Results No rat in the control group died. Two rats of 200 mg/kg TAA group, five rats of 400 mg/kg TAA group and eight rats of 600 mg/kg TAA group died during the experiment. The mean serum ALT levels of TAA model groups [(305.09±116.78)U/L,(901.67±274.31)U/L,(1454.84±473.49)U/L] were all significantly higher than that of the control group(47.81±22.61)U/L(t=14.583, 25.896 and 20.596, respectively; all P＜0.05). The mean serum AST levels of TAA model groups [(465.88±139.96)U/L, (884.37±250.90)U/L,(1889.23±159.67)U/L] were all significantly higher than that of the control group (69.33±22.04)U/L(t=12.988,18. 455 and 13.542, respectively; all P＜0.05). The mean plasma endotoxin levels of TAA model groups [(0.436±0.110)EU/mL, (0.550±0.095) EU/mL, (0.620±0.057)EU/mL] were all significantly higher than that of the control group (0.103±0.056)EU/mL(t=7.335, 5.260 and 8.191, respectively; all P＜0.05). The histological results of TAA model groups showed hepatic cell degeneration and necrosis in different degrees. Conclusions TAA with 200-600mg/kg is proper to establish the rat model of intestinal endotoxemia. The death rate of rats in the 200mg/kg TAA group is lower than those of other model groups, which suggests that 200mg/kg TAA may be the best dosage for establishing rat model for further studies.