[Relationship between lung injury induced by hemorrhagic shock/reperfusion and nitric oxide and beneficial effect of taurine].

OBJECTIVE

To approach the relationship between lung injury induced by shock/reperfusion and nitric oxide as well as the beneficial effect of taurine.

METHODS

Twenty four rabbits were divided randomly into 3 groups (n = 8): control group, shock group, taurine group. The model of lung injury induced by shock/reperfusion was used. The activities of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide products (NO2-/NO3-) in plasma and lung homogenate, lung wet/dry weight, lung water content, lung permeability index, and protein content in the pulmonary alveolar lavage fluid were measured. Meanwhile, pathologic samples treated routinely.

RESULTS

(1) At 3 hours after reperfusion, the activities of SOD in plasma and lung homogenate decreased markedly, but the other indexes above mentioned were increased significantly compared with the control group (P < 0.01). (2) A close correlation was shown between MDA content and NO2-/NO3- content in plasma and lung. Furthermore, the content of NO2-/NQ3- in lung homogenate showed strong positive correlation with the lung injury parameters. (3) Taurine (40 mg x kg(-1) i.v.) could attenuate all the changes above mentioned at the same time points of reperfusion.

CONCLUSIONS

NO may play an important role in lung injury induced by shock/reperfusion. Taurine can ameliorate the lung injury, mechanism of which may be related to decreasing the generation of NO and anti-lipoperoxidation.