Effects of Octreotide and Allopurinol on Liver Histology and Functions in Surgical Jaundice: An Experimental Study

Aim: Mechanical jaundice may lead to adverse metabolic effects in surgical patients. Our aim was to investigate the effects of octreotid and allopurinol on liver histology and functions in rats with experimantally created mechanical jaundice. Methods: The subjects were divided into five main groups. The rats in Group I (Control) received no interventions. In Group II, common bile duct ligation (CBDL) was performed. In Group III, the same ligation procedure was performed followed by the administration of octreotid. In Group IV, the rats received allopurinol following CBDL and in Group V (Sham), the common bile duct was dissected and left intact. After sacrification of each rat on the seventh postoperative day, blood samples were collected for serum hematocrit, direct bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), amylase, and albumin measurements in addition to the histopathologic examinations of the collected tissue specimens from the liver, terminal ileum, and pancreas. According to statistical analysis, a value of p<0.05 was considered as significant. Results: The direct bilirubin, AST and ALT levels were detected to be significantly elevated in the groups II, III and IV, in which CBDL was performed (p 0.05). Additionally, in the allopurinol group four rats were found to have increased serum amylase levels and the histopathologic evaluations of their pancreatic samples revealed findings of pancreatitis. According to the histopathologic examinations, significant alterations were detected between the control and sham groups (groups I, V) and the CBDL groups (groups II, III, IV). However, these histopathological findings revealed no significant differences within the subgroup of subjects including CBDL alone (Group II), and CBDL along with the administration of either octreotide (Group III), or allopurinol (Group IV). Conclusion: The use of octreotide in mehanical jaundice may have protective metabolic effects. Further studies are considered necessary to be carried to support these findings.