Review for 10.1186/1471-230X-8-19 (2008)

Reviewer's report
Title:Influence of acute pancreatitis on the responsiveness of rat mesenteric and
pulmonary arteries
Version: 1Date:31 January 2008
Reviewer: Susan Wai Sum Leung
Reviewer's report:
Major Compulsory Revisions
1. The present study indicated that acute experimental pancreatitis resulted in
impaired relaxation to acetylcholine only in mesenteric artery but not in
pulmonary artery. The authors suggested that the latter may be because â##the
endothelial cells from pulmonary arteries were not exposed to the massive
production of reactive species of oxygen produced by pancreatitis in its early
phase.â## (2nd paragraph of Discussion). However, the authors also stated that
â##the subsensitivity for phenylephrine in .... pulmonary from TAU-induced
pancreatitis could be due â#¦ massive formation of reactive species of oxygen
â#¦â## (last paragraph of Discussion). These 2 sentences appear contradictory
to each other, as it is unlikely for reactive species of oxygen to be in contact with
just the smooth muscle cells but not the endothelial cells.
2. Nitric oxide is considered as an endothelium-derived relaxing factor [please
see references below] but the authors suggest that there is â##a strong
relationship between NOx- levels and decrease in endothelium-dependent
relaxation response in mesenteric arteryâ##. Please comment in more details.
3. The authors have linked the findings of the present study (impaired relaxation
to acetylcholine and impaired contraction to phenylephrine) to massive
production of reactive species of oxygen. However, the evidence for an
increased level of reactive species of oxygen in pancreatitis is lacking in the
present study.
References
Moncada S, Palmer RM, Higgs EA. The discovery of nitric oxide as the
endogenous nitrovasodilator. Hypertension 1988; 12: 365-372.
Furchgott RF, Vanhoutte PM. Endothelium-derived relaxing and contracting
factors. FASEB J 1989; 3: 2007-2018
Gustafsson H. Vasomotion and underlying mechanisms in small arteries. An in
vitro study of rat blood vessels. Acta Physiol Scand Suppl 1993; 614: 1-44.
Minor Essential Revisions
1. There are some grammatical mistakes throughout the manuscript. For
example,
â##endothelium dysfunctionâ## (page 5, line 22) should be â##endothelial
dysfunctionâ##
â##A several lines of evidencesâ## (page 5, line 24) should be â##several lines
of evidenceâ##
â##endothelium damageâ## (page 6, line7) should be â##endothelial
damageâ##
â##were not exposure toâ## (page 6, line 10) should be â##were not exposed
toâ##
â##the subsensitivity for PHE in â#¦ could be due overproduction of NO â#¦â##
(page 6, line 21-22) should be â##the subsensitivity for PHE in â#¦ could be due
to overproduction of NO
2. Please insert a space inbetween number and unit, for example, 1 minute, 10
mN and 80 mM.
What next?: Unable to decide on acceptance or rejection until the authors have
responded to the major compulsory revisions
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests