Pancreatic regeneration after ethionine-induced acute pancreatitis in rats lacking pancreatic CCK-A receptor gene expression.

Background: We examined the effects of cholecystokinin (CCK) on the development of ethionine-induced pancreatitis and pancreatic recovery. We used Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats, a model lacking pancreatic CCK-A receptor gene expression.

Methods: Ethionine-induced pancreatitis was induced in the 7-week-old male OLETF rats and in a control group that does not lack the pancreatic CCK-A receptor, Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka (LETO) rats.

Effect of IS-741 on ethionine-induced acute pancreatitis in rats: relation to pancreatic acinar cell regeneration.

Background: Tissue destruction arising from neutrophil infiltration of the pancreas and other organs in acute pancreatitis is supposed to be suppressed by IS-741. We studied the effect of IS-741 on acute pancreatitis induced by DL-ethionine in rats.

Methods: Rats fed with a low protein diet for 11 days received daily intraperitoneal administration of DL-ethionine (20 mg/100 g) for the last 4 days of the diet.

Significance of measurement of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in acute pancreatitis.

Background: Determination of the severity of acute pancreatitis is difficult in the early phase after onset, and we often encounter difficulties in making decisions to initiate intensive care during the early phase. Therefore, there is real need for a simple and inexpensive method that can precisely evaluate the severity of acute pancreatitis.

Methods: In the present study, we measured serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in 20 patients with acute pancreatitis, using a high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) assay method.

A case of autoimmune pancreatitis responding to steroid therapy. Evidence of histologic recovery.

We report a case of autoimmune pancreatitis without obvious evidence of autoimmunological participation, which responded well to steroid treatment and provided histologic and radiographic evidence for this improvement. A 68-year-old woman presented abdominal fullness, diffuse pancreatic swelling on abdominal computed tomography and ultrasonography, and diffuse narrowing of the main pancreatic duct on endoscopic retrograde pancreatography. Transgastric aspiration needle biopsy of the body of the pancreas performed under endoscopic ultrasonography showed severe atrophy of acinar cells, infiltration of T lymphocytes.