Acute pancreatitis in aging animals: loss of pancreatitis-associated protein protection?

Aim: To investigate the effect of age on severity of acute pancreatitis (AP) using biochemical markers, histology and expression of the protective pancreatitis-associated proteins (PAPs).

Methods: AP was induced via intraductal injection of 4% sodium taurocholate in young and old rats. Sera and pancreata were assayed at 24 h for the parameters listed above; we also employed a novel molecular technique to assess bacterial infiltration using polymerase chain reaction to measure bacterial genomic ribosomal RNA.