Objectives. Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a life-threatening condition. Using antioxidants in AP is insufficient and conflicting. Therefore, this study compared the effect of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donor, sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS), leptin or curcumin pretreatment on AP induced by L-arginine. Methods. Forty adult male rats were used and classified into: 1) control; 2) AP group [each rat was intraperitoneally (ip) injected with 2 doses of L-arginine of 250 mg/100 g body weight (bw) with an interval of 1 h]; 3) NaHS+ AP group (each rat was ip injected with 10 mg/kg bw of NaHS 1 h before induction of AP); 4) leptin+ AP group (each rat was pretreated with 10 μg/kg bw of leptin 30 min before induction of AP; and 5) curcumin+ AP group (in which rats were ip injected with 150 mg/kg bw of curcumin 30 min before induction of AP). Serum amylase, lipase, nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and corticosterone (CORT) levels were assayed. In addition, pancreatic tissues were obtained for histopathological examination and malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) levels were measured.

Results. All AP treated groups showed significant decrease in serum levels of pancreatic enzymes, NO, and TNF-α, and pancreatic MDA and iNOS levels, while TAC levels were significantly increased. NaHS caused more limitation of inflammation than leptin and curcumin by affecting iNOS. Leptin was more potent than curcumin due to the stimulatory effect of leptin on glucocorticoid release to counteract inflammation.

Conclusions. NaHS was more effective in AP amelioration than the leptin and curcumin.