ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate empyema formation in rats through the injection of two bacteria (Pasteurella multocida and Staphylococcus aureus), using a simple, easy-to-use surgical technique. METHODS: Twenty four anesthetized Wistar white rats, 250-300g in weight, submitted to right anterior thoracotomy, muscular retraction and injection of a 0.2ml solution into pleural space according the following scheme: Group I (n=12): injection of 10(10) Pasteurella multocida cultured in brain heart infusion broth. Group II (n=8): injection of 10(10) Staphylococcus aureus cultured in brain heart infusion broth. Group III (n=4): injection of bacterium-free brain heart infusion (control). The rats were sacrificed after seven days, and pleural reaction was assessed by macroscopy. Mortality, and intrathoracic liquid volume were evaluated, and bacteriological tests were also performed. RESULTS: Seven rats died within the first 48 hours in Group I (Pasteurella multocida); five completed the experiment, but none of them presented empyema. Only one animal died within the first 24 hours in Group II (Staphylococcus aureus); seven (88%) presented empyema at the time of sacrifice. All animals survived in Group III (control), without empyema or thoracic abnormalities. Pleural inoculation of Staphylococcus aureus (Group II) was significantly associated with empyema formation (P<0.001). In this group, the amount of pleural liquid ranged from 0.9 to 3.9ml. CONCLUSION: It is possible to induce empyema in rats through Staphylococcus aureus pleural injection by a simple surgical technique. Differently from other experiments, the pleural injection of Pasteurella multocida did not provoke empyema in rats.
ABSTRACT
The use of alternative therapies to treat diabetes, including teas prepared with different vegetables, is widespread in Brazil. In Porto Alegre, a southern city of Brazil, the tea prepared from leaves of Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels or S. jambos (L.) Alst has been report to be used frequently by diabetic patients. We investigated the postulated antihyperglycemic effect of the S. cumini (L.) Skeels in three experiments. In the first, a randomized, parallel, placebo controlled trial, tea prepared from leaves of S. cumini did not present any antihyperglycernic effect in 30 non-diabetic young volunteers submitted to a glucose blood tolerance test. In the animal experiments, we tested the effect of increasing doses of the crude extract prepared from leaves of S. cumini administrated for 2 weeks, on the post-prandial blood glucose level of normal rats and rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus. The treatment did not produce any antihyperglycernic effect in both models. These results do not rule out hypoglycemic effects in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, but strongly suggest that, for a while, the jambolan can not be recommended as an antihyperglycemic treatment.
