Faculty of Pharmacy – University of Kufa Official Site – Faculty of Pharmacy
University of Kufa, Faculty of pharmacy discussed the Master’s thesis titled “The Possible Cardioprotective Effect of Ghrelin on Experimental Model of Sepsis in Male Mice” by the student Zinah Majid Abd Ali.
The thesis aimed to evaluate the cardioprotective effect of ghrelin during polymicrobial sepsis in male mice. The study found that ghrelin ameliorated sepsis-induced cardiotoxicity in male mice via exhibiting anti-inflammatory (suppressed TNF-α, IL-1β, MIF, TLR4, and NF-κB) and anti-oxidant (decreased 8-epi-PGF2α level). The researcher recommended to evaluate the effects of ghrelin on hemodynamic cardiac parameters, apoptotic biomarkers, inflammatory biomarker gene expression, and cardiac biomarkers as well as synergistic effect of ghrelin and growth hormone in aged septic mice.
In summary, thirty-five male mice, were randomly separated into five groups (n = 7); the normal group, the sham group was subjected to anaesthesia and laparotomy, the sepsis group was subjected to cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), vehicle group was given an equivalent volume of intraperitoneal saline injections immediately after CLP, and ghrelin group was treated with 80 µg/kg of ghrelin intraperitoneal injections immediately following CLP. Twenty hours after CLP, mice were sacrificed; blood and myocardial tissue samples were collected. Serum TNF-α, MIF, TLR4, and 8-epi-PGF2α levels were measured using ELISA commercial kits, and the extent of cardiac damage was evaluated and scored according to the Zingarelli protocol.
