Beneficial effects of Emblica officinalis in L-arginine-induced acute pancreatitis in rats.

Acute necrotizing pancreatitis is characterized by focal macroscopic or diffuse necrosis, hemorrhage, and vascular thrombosis of the pancreas. Current treatment options are limited to supportive and symptomatic interventions. A large amount of experimental work is ongoing to identify novel therapeutic agents for acute pancreatitis. The present study was carried out to explore the beneficial effects of Emblica officinalis, a medicinal plant of India, on acute pancreatitis. Ascorbic acid is one of the major chemical components of E. officinalis, so a vitamin C group was included for comparison. Acute pancreatitis was induced by L-arginine. Rats were divided into the following groups: control (saline), arginine + saline, arginine + E. officinalis, and arginine + vitamin C. Animals in each group were sacrificed at 24 hours and 3, 14, and 28 days after pancreatitis induction for determination of biochemical parameters and histological examination. For rate of DNA synthesis and immunohistochemical studies, animals were sacrificed on Day 3 and Day 7. Drug administration was started 2 hours after the last arginine injection and continued until the day of sacrifice. E. officinalis treatment was found to be beneficial for treating acute pancreatitis. Serum levels of lipase and interleukin-10 were significantly lower than in the arginine group. Nucleic acid content, rate of DNA synthesis, pancreatic proteins, and pancreatic amylase content were significantly improved. Histopathological examination showed significantly lower total scores in the Emblica group. Vitamin C was found to be less efficacious than E. officinalis for all outcome parameters. Thus E. officinalis treatment was found to be beneficial in acute necrotizing pancreatitis.