OBJECTIVES Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is characterized by inflammation and fibrosis of the pancreas, leading to pain, parenchymal damage, and loss of exocrine and endocrine function. There are currently no curative therapies; diagnosis remains difficult and aspects of pathogenesis remain unclear. Thus, there is a need to identify novel biomarkers to improve diagnosis and understand pathophysiolo...

on cyclic AMP levels in the presence of 5 mM theophylline. By contrast, caerulein and secretin increased cyclic AMP levels by 27 and 208%, respectively. Bombesin, bombesin-NP, and litorin did not activate adenylate cyclase in a purified pancreatic plasma membrane preparation, whereas caerulein and secretin increased this activity 20 and 16-times, respectively. Calcium efflux was estimated in is...

We examined whether the capsaicin vanilloid receptor-1 (VR1) mediates substance P (SP) release from primary sensory neurons in experimental pancreatitis. Pancreatitis was achieved by 12 hourly injections of caerulein (50 microg/kg ip) in mice. One group received capsazepine (100 micromol/kg sc), a competitive VR1 antagonist, at 4-h intervals. Neurokinin-1 receptor (NK1R) internalization in acin...

Stimulation of enzyme secretion in the pancreas on injection of a single dose of the cholinergic drug, pilocarpine, was associated with an increased incorporation of [2-(3)H]myoinositol into a lipid, which was previously characterized as phosphatidylinositol. Stimulation of enzyme secretion by hourly injection of the pancreozymin congener, caerulein, led to more increased phosphatidylinositol s...

There is no clinical treatment that reduces acinar injury during pancreatitis. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease inhibitors (PI), including nelfinavir (NFV) and ritonavir (RTV), may reduce the rate of pancreatitis in HIV-infected patients. Since permeability transition pore (PTPC)-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction occurs during pancreatitis, and we have shown that PI prevents PTPC op...

The complex events by which digestive enzyme zymogens and lysosomal hydrolases are segregated from each other and differentially transported to their respective membrane-bound intracellular organelles in the pancreas have been noted to be disturbed during the early stages of several models of experimental pancreatitis. As a result, lysosomal hydrolases such as cathepsin B are redistributed to t...

1. A standard duodenal perfusion technique was used to study the effects of luminally perfused sodium taurocholate on basal and stimulated biliary and pancreatic secretion and gastrointestinal hormone release in man. 2. During duodenal perfusion with sodium taurocholate alone, both basal and caerulein/secretin-stimulated bilirubin secretion were suppressed. A successive perfusion with a mixture...

BACKGROUND The cystic fibrosis (CF) mouse pancreas has constitutively elevated expression of the Reg/PAP cell stress genes (60-fold greater Reg3alpha, and 10-fold greater PAP/Reg3beta and Reg3gamma). These genes are suggested to be involved in protection or recovery from pancreatic injury. METHODS To test this idea the supramaximal caerulein model was used to induce acute pancreatitis in wild...

Pancreatic morphology and amylase release from isolated pancreatic acini in response to caerulein was studied in the course of an experimental bile induced acute pancreatitis without acinar necrosis. The inflammation was induced by retrograde microinfusion of 25 microliters bile into the rat bile pancreatic duct. A dissociation between functional and structural findings was seen. One hour after...

The effect of B2 receptor bradykinin antagonist icatibant on postcapillary leukostasis, microcirculatory stasis, and tissue necrosis was studied in acute pancreatitis. In rats, pancreatitis was induced by intraductal injection of sodium taurocholate (ST), intravenous caerulein and intraductal infusion of glucodeoxycholic acid (GDOC), or intravenous caerulein infusion alone. Intravital pancreati...