Fig. 4.

Neutralizing plasma extracellular (e)ATP reduced systemic inflammation, but not local injury, in l-arginine-induced acute pancreatitis (AP). AP was induced by 2 hourly injections of 4.5 g/kg ip filter-sterilized l-arginine solution (pH 7.0) in saline, and 5 U ip of apyrase was injected at 24, 48, and 60 h. A: representative hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) sections of lung tissue, showing reduced lung damage upon apyrase treatment. B: decreased lung myeloperoxidase (MPO) upon apyrase treatment. C: decreased coronin-1 staining in lung tissue in apyrase-treated vs. l-arginine-induced animals (arrow indicates coronin-1-positive leukocytes). D: quantification of coronin-1 staining in lung sections in both groups (values are multiples of 10⁴). Plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6; E) and plasma tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α; F) levels decreased upon apyrase treatment. G: representative H&E sections of pancreatic tissue with l-arginine- and apyrase-treated groups showing unchanged pancreatic morphology with apyrase treatment. H: plasma amylase levels remain unchanged upon apyrase treatment. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01; NS, not significant; n = 4–6 in each group.