Objective: To study the effects of up to 60 days intermittent octreotide on regeneration of rat pancreas stimulated by cholecystokinin after 70% distal resection. DESIGN. Random controlled experimental study.
Setting: University hospital, Italy.
Materials: 60 Male Wistar rats.
Interventions: Distal resection of splenic and gastric lobes of pancreas (70% of whole gland). Rats were allocated to three groups (n = 20 in each): group A (control) were given saline solution 0.5 ml; group B were given cholecystokinin 300 ng/kg; and group C were given cholecystokinin 300 ng/kg and octreotide 2.5 micrograms/kg. All substances were injected subcutaneously twice a day until death. Four rats were killed weekly for four weeks, and the remainder at 60 days.
Main outcome measures: Increase in weight of the gland as a percentage of the weight of the whole gland, and DNA synthesis measured by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) nuclear labelling index.
Results: In the cholecystokinin alone group pancreatic weight had increased significantly on days 21 and 28 (95% confidence intervals (CI) - 13.8 to 12.2 and -44.1 to 19.7, respectively) and the BrdU index had increased significantly at 21 (0.56 to 0.80), 28 (0.26 to 1.3), and 60 (0.09 to 0.51) days compared with the control group. In the group given both cholecystokinin and octreotide the weight was significantly lower than in the cholecystokinin alone group at 21 and 28 days (95% CI - 1.02 to 66.7 and 3.5 to 34.7, respectively) and the BrdU index was significantly lower at 28 days (0.40 to 1.19).
Conclusions: Octreotide seems to reduce the pancreatic regeneration induced by cholecystokinin in rats after 70% distal resection. To our knowledge this has not previously been shown, and the mechanism must be elucidated further.