Administration of the selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitor etodolac prolongs cardiac allograft survival in a XXXX model.

@entity19 @entity32 @entity1996 @entity39
Etodolac, a selective @entity1996 ( @entity1996 ) inhibitor, is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. @entity1996 is a key factor in the progression of @entity32 . Although @entity32 is an essential pathologic feature of cardiac allograft rejection, the role of @entity1996 in this process remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of COX and the effects of etodolac in a @entity19 cardiac allograft model. Balb/c @entity19 (H-2d) were used as recipients and C57BL/6 (H-2b) @entity19 as heart donors. Heart function was evaluated daily after transplantation by regular abdominal palpation of the heart and by laparotomy in cases where the beating became weak. Rejection was defined as total cessation of cardiac muscle contraction. @entity1996 expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Cardiac isograft was well tolerated (>150 days, n=5), while non-treated cardiac allograft was rapidly rejected (mean  10.9  2.4, n=7). In the etodolac-treated cardiac allograft (10 mg/kg/day by hypodermic injection), survival was extended to 18.53  2.1 days (n=7). The @entity39 area and the grade of @entity1996 immunostaining were more significantly reduced in the etodolac-treated cardiac allograft than in the non-treated cardiac allograft at day  14. These results indicate that etodolac contributes to protection against rejection after heart transplantation. Etodolac could therefore be used to suppress graft rejection by means of its anti-inflammatory properties.
