RESUMO
Background: The study on pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis has become a hot spot in clinical research, and the role of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis is not fully clear. Aims: To investigate the correlation between serum levels of endothelin (ET), nitric oxide (NO) and NLRP3 inflammasome in patients with acute pancreatitis. Methods: A total of 120 patients with acute pancreatitis from July 2016 to July 2018 at Longhua District People's Hospital of Shenzhen were selected as the observation group. According to the severity of disease, the patients in observation group were divided into mild group, moderate group and severe group. Fifty healthy subjects were served as controls. The serum levels of ET and NO were detected by radioimmunoassay. The serum level of NLRP3 inflammasome was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Pearson correlation test was used to analyze the correlation between levels of ET, NO and NLRP3 inflammasome in patients with acute pancreatitis. Results: The serum levels of ET, NO and NLRP3 inflammasome in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). The levels of ET, NO and NLRP3 inflammasome in the observation group increased with the increase of disease severity (P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that levels of ET and NO in patients with acute pancreatitis were positively correlated with NLRP3 inflammasome level (P<0.05). Conclusions: The levels of serum ET, NO and NLRP3 inflammasome are significantly increased in patients with acute pancreatitis, and are significantly correlated with the severity of disease, indicating that serum NLRP3 inflammasome may participate in the occurrence and development of acute pancreatitis.