The effects of duration of mesenteric artery ligation to the ratio of TNF-α/IL-10 in a rat model of acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI)

Abstract

The mortality rate of acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) is high due to the delay in diagnosis.
Determination of potent biomarker for early AMI is the key in reducing the mortality. As a
proinflammatory cytokine, the level of TNF-α might be affected during the ischemia and
reperfusion, with the prediction duration of 60-120 min. High TNF-α level may stimulate
the upregulation of IL-10 as an inhibitor of TNF-α. This provides a new opportunity for
early diagnosis of AMI by measuring the ratio between those two cytokines. The purpose
of this study was to investigate the effect of duration of the mesenteric artery to the
ratio of TNF-α/IL-10 in a AMI rat model. This was an experimental study using Wistar
rat. We performed mesenteric artery in 28 male rats to produce an AMI model, with
ligation duration of 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 minutes. At the end of ligation,
blood samples were taken for measurement of TNF-α and IL-10 level using ELISA. For the
microscopic examination of tissue necrosis, intestinal organ samples were taken and made
into paraffin blocks and stained using Haematoxylin-Eosin. TNF-α increased in minute 120
compared to other treatment groups (p<0.05). IL-10 increased in minute 180 compared
to control group (p<0.05). Microscopic examination showed that the duration of ligation
affects the structure and morphology of intestinal mucosa characterized by discoloration
of organs along with increasing the ligation duration. Ligation of the superior mesenteric
artery was found to be significantly increased the TNF-α level and to be compensated by
increasing IL-10. It is assumed that when the IL-10 level, that has protective effect as an
inhibitor, higher than TNF-α level as a proinflammatory cytokine on duration 150 minutes,
it means no more inflammatory or cells is dead. Therefore TNF-α/IL-10 ratio can be used
as a biomarker candidate of prognosic factor management of AMI.