Effects of Ligustrazine on pancreatic and renal damage after scald injury.

Organ protection is a routine therapeutic application to severe burn/scald injuries, and organic damage following early scald injury is not absolutely elucidated. Our aim is to verify the good effects of Ligustrazine on pancreatic and renal damage associated with early scald injury. A total of 120 Lewis rats subjected to 30% total body surface area (TBSA) scald injury, were randomly divided into simple scald group (S group) and Ligustrazine treated group (L group). Both pancreatic and renal malondialdehyde (MDA) level and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined. Serum amylase, serum creatinine (Scr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were identified as well as examining the kidneys histologically with Immunohistochemistry (IHC) for major histocompatability complex class I chain-related antigen A (MICA) and Bcl-2 at 0, 1, 6, 12, 18, 24, 48 and 72 h after scald. Ligustrazine decreased MDA levels and ameliorated the downregulation of SOD activity. MICA was up-regulated after scald, and the up-regulation could be greatly diminished by Ligustrazine. Bcl-2 was up-regulated after scald, especially in the L group. From 24 to 72 h, in comparison with the L group, higher levels of BUN, Scr and serum amylase were observered in the S group, which were also higher than the common upper limits. Therefore, our results demonstrated potential pancreatic and renal damage associated with autoimmunity and oxidant attack occurred following early scald injury. Ligustrazine exhibits significant protective effects.