Rats were sacrificed for analysis at 24 h and 48 h after modeling. Serum was collected for amylase analysis. PD-0332991 cell line Pancreas and intestinal mucosa were collected for histological examination. Ussing chambers were used for detection of Intestinal mucosal barrier function in terms of transepithelial elect rical resistance (TER) and Horse Radish Peroxidase (HRP) transportation. Occludin expression in intestinal epithelia was

analyzed by RT-PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Results: Compared to Sham group, the SAP rats showed a significantly higher level of serum amylase (9408 ± 1256 vs. 2676 ± 230, u/l, P < 0.01) and histological score (12.33 ± 0.93 vs. 1.08 ± 0.66, P < 0.01) 24 h after sodium taurocholate administration. In accordance with this, before obvious histological changes could be detected, TER of intestinal mucosa in SAP rats was significantly higer than Sham group (45.3 ± 4.3

vs. 36.06 ± 2.6 Ω.cm2, P < 0.01). Also, HRP transportation was obviously elevated in SAP rats (60.5 ± 5.6 vs. 20.4 ± 4.3 pmol/cm2.h, P = 0.015), suggesting an early increase of intestinal permeability. At 48 h, the intestinal mucosa of SAP rats showed significantly higher apoptotic epithelial cells compared to Sham group (63.3 ± 6.1 vs. 8.3 ± 1.8, P < 0.01) and lower occludin expression as evidenced by RT-PCR, NVP-BKM120 cell line western blot and IHC examination. Administration of methylprednisolone (15 mg/kg) reduced intestinal epithelial apoptosis (28 ± 3.2 vs. 60.1 ± 1.8, P < 0.01), induced occludin expression and decreased HRP transportation (66.4 ± 7.8 vs. 140.5 ± 12.3 pmol/cm2.h P < 0.01) at 48 h, as compared to NS injection. However, there were not significantly improvements in SAP rats received 30 mg/kg methylprednisolone considering the above parameters at each time points. Conclusion: The present study showed that low-dose of methylprednisolone played a protective role on intestinal barrier function in SAP rats. Up-regulation of occludin in the intestinal Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II epithelium might contribute to this protection. Key Word(s): 1.

acute pancreatitis; 2. methylprednisolone; 3. intestinal barrier; 4. occludin; Presenting Author: YANG CHEN Additional Authors: YONG-PING LUO Corresponding Author: YANG CHEN Affiliations: yibin second hospital Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics, treatment measures and prognostic factors of elderly patients with acute pancreatitis. Methods: A retrospective analysis of clinic data of 110 elderly patients with acute pancreatitis (observation group) was performed and compared with that of 116 non-elderly patients with acute pancreatitis (contrast group). Results: In the observation group gallstones was the main pathogeny (70 patients,63.6%); abdominal pain and vomiting were the main symptoms. There were 50 patients with severe pancreatitis, including 35 patients in the observation group and 15 patients in the contrast group.