Abstract: AIM: To explore the potential role of ENA-78 on the pathogenesis during the early severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in rats, and study the effect of somatostatin on ENA-78 expression.METHODS: Fifty-six SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: sham-operation group, SAP3 h, 6 h,12 h groups and somatostatin-treated 3 h, 6 h, 12 h groups.SAP was induced by retrograde injection 3.5% sodium taurocholate into the biliopancreatic duct.Somatostatin-treated groups were given somatostatin (20 μg/kg) intravenous injection after SAP model successfully established 0.5 h by microinjection pump.The levels of serum amylase and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in the pancreas tissue were tested. Pathological changes of pancreas were observed under the light microscopy.The ENA-78 mRNA expression of the pancreas tissue was analyzed by RT-PCR.The serum levels of ENA-78 were measured by means of enzyme-linked immunosobent assay (ELISA).RESULTS: Compared with SO group, the ENA-78 mRNA expression was up-regulated obviously in SAP group.During the process of SAP development from 3 h to 12 h, ENA-78 mRNA expression increased at 3 h and peaked at 12 h(P<0.05 or P<0.01, respectively).The serum levels of ENA-78 were significantly higher in SAP group than those in SO group (P<0.01).Furthermore, ENA-78 expression was positively correlated with the severity of pancreatic injury (r=0.888, P<0.01). After SST treatment, the mRNA expression and serum levels of ENA-78 declined significantly(P<0.05 or P<0.01,respectively)CONCLUSION: ENA-78 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of early SAP. Somatostatin has protective effect on SAP via down-regulating ENA-78 expression.

Key words: Severe acute pancreatitis, Chemotatic factor, Epithelial neutrohil-activating peptide-78, Somatostatin