Effects of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists on responses to hemorrhagic shock in rats

AIM: To evaluate the effects of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonists on mortality and inflammatory responses after hemorrhagic shock (HS) in rats. METHODS: One hundred and two male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly assigned to one of the following three groups: Control, spironolactone (SPL), and eplerenone (EP) groups. HS was induced by the removal of blood. One half of rats were evaluated to determine mortality, hemodynamics, plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) concentrations, and arterial blood gas at 8 h after HS recovery. In the remainder of rats, the expression levels of genes encoding cytokines were evaluated in liver tissue samples at 1 h after HS recovery. RESULTS: The survival rates 8 h after HS recovery were 71%, 94%, and 82% in the control, SPL, and EP groups, respectively. There were no significant differences in survival rates among the three groups (P = 0.219). Furthermore, there were no significant differences in gene expression levels in the liver or plasma TNF-α concentrations among the three groups (P = 0.888). CONCLUSION: Pretreatment with MR antagonists did not improve mortality or cytokine responses in the liver after HS recovery in rats.