Objectives: The cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway has been elucidated as a regulator of inflammatory responses in several experimental models of diseases. This regulatory mechanism is mediated by acetylcholine, released from efferent vagus nerve, interacts with α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on immune cells. Experimental evidence indicates that vagus nerve stimulation or α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonists control proinflammatory cytokine production and protect animals in diverse lethal models. The aim of the study was to investigate effect of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway in acute lung injury in an experimental model of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP).
Methods: In taurocholate-induced SAP in rats, pancreatitis was preceded by pretreatment with the nicotinic receptor agonist nicotine or unilateral left cervical vagotomy.
Results: Pretreatment with nicotine strongly alleviated severity of SAP-associated lung injury through attenuating serum amylase, lipase, and interleukin 6 levels; pancreas and lung pathological injury; lung myeloperoxidase activity; lung tumor necrosis factor-α; and high-mobility group box 1 expression. Inversely, vagotomy pretreatment resulted in an enhanced severity of pancreatitis and lung injury.
Conclusions: Our results reveal the role of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway in experimental SAP-associated lung injury; nicotine pretreatment exerts a protective effect and vagotomy pretreatment exerts the opposite effect.