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. 2014 Feb;69(2):128-33.
doi: 10.6061/clinics/2014(02)09.

Effect of the systemic administration of methylprednisolone on the lungs of brain-dead donor rats undergoing pulmonary transplantation

Luiz Felipe Lopes Araujo  1 , Arthur Rodrigo Ronconi Holand  2 , Artur de Oliveira Paludo  2 , Éverton Franco Silva  2 , Luiz Alberto Forgiarini  2 , Luiz Felipe Forgiarini  2 , Mariel Barbachan E Silva  2 , Cristiano Feijó Andrade  1
Affiliations

Effect of the systemic administration of methylprednisolone on the lungs of brain-dead donor rats undergoing pulmonary transplantation

Luiz Felipe Lopes Araujo et al. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2014 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: Most lung transplants are obtained from brain-dead donors. The physiopathology of brain death involves hemodynamics, the sympathetic nervous system, and inflammatory mechanisms. Administering methylprednisolone 60 min after inducing brain death in rats has been shown to modulate pulmonary inflammatory activity. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of methylprednisolone on transplanted rat lungs from donors treated 60 min after brain death.

Methods: Twelve Wistar rats were anesthetized, and brain death was induced. They were randomly divided into two groups (n=6), namely a control group, which was administered saline solution, and a methylprednisolone group, which received the drug 60 min after the induction of brain death. All of the animals were observed and ventilated for 2 h prior to being submitted to lung transplantation. We evaluated the hemodynamic and blood gas parameters, histological score, lung tissue levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, level of superoxide dismutase, level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and level of interleukin-1 beta.

Results: After transplantation, a significant reduction in the levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and IL-1β was observed in the group that received methylprednisolone (p=0.0084 and p=0.0155, respectively). There were no significant differences in tumor necrosis factor-alpha and superoxide dismutase levels between the control and methylprednisolone groups (p=0.2644 and p=0.7461, respectively). There were no significant differences in the blood gas parameters, hemodynamics, and histological alterations between the groups.

Conclusion: The administration of methylprednisolone after brain death in donor rats reduces inflammatory activity in transplanted lungs but has no influence on parameters related to oxidative stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pulmonary tumor necrosis factor-alpha assay. After transplantation, there was a significant decrease in the levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the methylprednisolone group compared with the control group (*p = 0.0084). The values are expressed as the mean ± standard error of the mean.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pulmonary interleukin-1 beta assay. After transplantation, there was a significant decrease in the levels of interleukin-1 beta in the methylprednisolone group compared with the control group (*p = 0.0155). The values are expressed as the mean ± standard error of the mean.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The main histological findings in the control and methylprednisolone groups after lung transplantation. The lungs from the methylprednisolone group (A) showed the recruitment of septal neutrophils (N) and edema (E). The lungs from the control group (B) showed areas of hemorrhage (H) (200× magnification).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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