Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate cardiac changes in young rats, whose mothers underwent autogenic fecal peritonitis, during organogenesis phase and to evaluate the role of intravenous administration of moxifloxacin and dexamethasone in preventing infection-related cardiac changes.
Methods:
A prospective histomorphometric study was performed on 29 hearts of Wistar four-month old rats. Animals were divided into three groups: Negative Control Group (NCG) included 9 subjects from healthy mothers; Positive Control Group (PCG) included 10 subjects from mothers with fecal peritonitis (intra-abdominal injection of 10% autogenic fecal suspension in the gestational period) and did not receive any treatment; and Intervention Group (IG), with 10 animals whose infected mothers received moxifloxacin and dexamethasone treatment 24 hours after induction of fecal peritonitis.
Results:
Nuclear count was higher in the IG group as compared to PCG (p = 0.0016) and in NCG as compared to PCG (p = 0.0380). There was no significant difference in nuclear counts between NCG and IG.
Conclusion:
Induced autogenic fecal peritonitis in pregnant Wistar rats determined myocardial changes in young rats that could be avoided by the early administration of intravenous moxifloxacin and dexamethasone.
Key words:
Peritonitis; Myocardium; Pregnancy; Dexamethasone; Rats
