Background: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a self-limiting condition to a widespread, deadly multi-organ failure that can result
in death.
Objectives: To compare the protective effect of alpha lipoic acid (ALA) and Coenzyme (Q10) in an experimental rat model
of L-arginine-induced AP.
Materials (Subjects): Forty adult male albino rats were randomized equally into 4 groups: (i) The control group; (ii) The AP
group received L-Arginine by intraperitoneal (IP) injection in two doses of 2 g/kg body weight each, 1 hour apart, (iii) The
ALA+AP group was injected with L-Arginine and intramuscular (IM) injection of ALA in two doses of 60mg/kg body weight;
1 hour before L-arginine injection and 24 hours after the second dose of L-arginine; (iii) The Coenzyme Q10+AP group was
injected with L-Arginine and IM injection of Q10 in two doses of 30mg/kg body weight; 1 hour before L-arginine injection and
24 hours after the second dose of L-arginine. Histological, immunohistochemical for HSP70 and NF-κB, and morphometric
studies were done followed by statistical analysis.
Results: AP group showed significant distortion of the pancreatic acini with obvious cellular damage while those treated by
ALA and Coenzyme Q 10 especially ALA showed significant pancreatic tissue improvement as shown by HSP70 and NF-κB
immunoexpressing.
Conclusions: ALA and Q 10 therapy proved a clear protective effect in suppressing experimentally generated AP in male
albino rats, but the improvement was more obvious with ALA.