Acta histochemica 111 (2009) 404—414 Effects of levosimendan and dobutamine on experimental acute lung injury in rats KorayErbu¨yu¨n a,Ã , Seda Vatansever b , Demet Tok a ,Gu¨layOk a , Ergin Tu ¨rko ¨z b , Hasan Aydede c , Yamac - Erhan c , I ˙ dil Tekin a a Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey b Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey c Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey Received 29 May 2008; received in revised form 19 September 2008; accepted 25 September 2008 KEYWORDS Levosimendan; Dobutamine; Sepsis; Lung injury; Rats Summary The effects of levosimendan on acute lung injury induced by peritonitis and abdominal hypertension in the early stages of sepsis in rats were investigated. Twenty-four adult male Wistar rats were randomized into: (1) sham, (2) subjected to abdominal hypertension and peritonitis induced lung injury using cecal ligation and puncture, then treated by dobutamine, (3) subjected to abdominal hypertension and peritonitis induced lung injury using cecal ligation and puncture, then treated by levosimendan, and (4) controls subjected to abdominal hypertension and peritonitis induced lung injury using cecal ligation and puncture with no treatment. In the control and levosimendan groups, cecal ligation and puncture resulted in moderate IL-1b immunolabelling in lung tissue; marked IL-1b immunolabelling was demon- strated in the dobutamine group. TNF-a immunolabelling was negative in both the sham and levosimendan groups, but moderate and weak immunoreactivities were observed in the dobutamine and control groups, respectively. There were almost no TUNEL positive cells in the sham, but they were prominent in the control. TUNEL positive cells were significantly less in the levosimendan treated lungs when compared to control and dobutamine groups. Immunoreactivity of eNOS was stronger in the dobutamine group when compared with the levosimendan group. In addition, iNOS immunoreactivity was strongly detected in the control group; this immunoreactivity was less in the levosimendan group than the dobutamine group. In this experimental sepsis model, treatment with levosimendan had a marked effect on attenuating or decreasing apoptosis and inflammation in the lung. & 2008 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.de/acthis 0065-1281/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.acthis.2008.09.010 Ã Corresponding author. Tel.: +0090532 7753356; fax: +0090236 2370213. E-mail address: korayerbuyun@yahoo.com (K. Erbu ¨yu ¨n).