Hemin treatment protects the adrenal gland from IR damage in a rat sepsis model

CALDARERI, LILIAN; MEISNER, FRANCO; WISZNIEWSKI, MORENA; REPETTO, ESTEBAN MARTIN; MARTINEZ CALEJMAN, CAMILA; CYMERYNG, CORA B.

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunión Anual de Sociedades de Biociencias; 2024

Sociedad Argentina de Investigaciones Clinicas

Adrenal insufficiency (low glucocorticoid production) can lead to adrenal crisis and death if not identified and treated in time. Rats fed sucrose rich diets (SRD) for several weeks mimic certain traits of human IR and exhibit lower basal corticosterone levels. The aim of the present study was to analyze the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect of hemin on the adrenal cortex of SRD-treated rats subjected to a ligation and cecal puncture procedure (CLP), the gold standard model for sepsis. Previous results indicate that SRD-treated animals have a diminished glucocorticoid response to CLP, and that hemin treatment prevents this effect. In the present study adult male Wistar rats were randomly distributed in three groups: Control (C), SRD and SRD+H. Rats in SRD groups received 30% sucrose in the drinking water for 12 weeks while the last group received hemin for the last 2 weeks (15 mg/kg i.p every 48 h). All the animals were subjected to CLP surgeries during the 12th week. As expected, HO-1 expression levels were increased in the SRD+H group while inflammatory markers as TNFα and iNOS were also higher in this group (p