Does stress play a role in the development of severe pancreatitis in rats?

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether stress plays a role, morphologically and enzymatically, in the development of severe pancreatitis in rats. Acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis was induced by two intraperitoneal injections of cerulein (40 micrograms/kg body wt) at intervals of 1 h under water-immersion stress for 5 h, whereas water-immersion stress alone did not induce any morphologic and enzymatic changes in the pancreas. In this model, hemorrhagic pancreatitis developed continuously, and the serum amylase level and activation of zymogen proteases in pancreatic tissue were significantly higher than in cerulein-induced pancreatic tissue 5 h after the first cerulein injection. Furthermore, the effects of cerulein on the serum amylase level and activation of zymogen proteases were dose related. Even 5 micrograms/kg body wt of cerulein, which did not induce any evident edematous change in the pancreas, could activate the zymogen proteases of pancreatic tissue fairly well under water-immersion stress compared with pancreatitis induced by 40 micrograms/kg body wt of cerulein alone. These results indicate that stress accelerates the activation of zymogen proteases induced by cerulein and suggest the possibility that stress may play some role in the development of severe pancreatitis.