Improvement of Vitamin C on septic brain injury in rats / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To preliminarily investigate the role of Vitamin C in cecal ligation and puncture-induced septic brain injury.Methods Male specific pathogen free (SPF) Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly assigned into control group,sham operation group,sepsis group and sepsis therapy group.The rats in sepsis group were prepared by cecal ligation and puncture.The rats in sepsis therapy group were injected sodium ascorbate through the tail vein 3 h after the cecal ligation and punature procedure.The animals in other groups were subjected only to subcutaneous bolus injection of 9 g/L saline only.Animals were evaluated by neurologic reflex scores before sacrifice and brain tissues were quickly removed at the indicated time points.Reactive oxygen species (ROS),superoxide dismutase (SOD),malondialdehyde (MDA),nitric oxide (NO),inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and catalase (CAT) were determined by using enzyme assay kits.Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to observe morphological changes in brain tissues.Results The survival rate of the sepsis group (30％ at 7th day) was significantly lower than that of the control group (100％ at 7th day)and sham operation group(100％ at 7th day).The survival rate of the sepsis therapy group (45％ at 7th day)was significantly higher than that of the sepsis group(P ＜ O.05).The neurological reflex assessment began to decrease at 6 h in sepsis group and reached the lowest at 24 h (6.00 ± 0.53).The sepsis therapy group (7.62 ± 0.52) was significantly higher (P ＜ 0.05) than the sepsis group and began to recover at 72 h (8.63 ±0.52).ROS,SOD,MDA,NO and iNOS in the sepsis group and the sepsis therapy group reached a peak at 24 h,which decreased at 72 h.The value in sepsis therapy group was significantly decreased than that in the sepsis group,and the difference was statistically significant(P ＜0.05).CAT changed in the opposition.The SOD/CAT in sepsis group was the highest 24 h after the operation,while the ratio in sepsis therapy group was significantly improved.SOD/CAT and MDA were positively correlated(r =0.968,P ＜ 0.05).HE staining showed significant damage to the brain tissue structure in the sepsis group,however some improvement was observed in the sepsis therapy group.Conclusion Vitamin C can significantly improve the survival rate and encephalopathy prognosis in the cecal ligation and puncture SD rat models.The mechanism may be related to the reduction of oxidative stress.