Acute necrotizing pancreatitis in rats

The specific aim of the present study was to investigate whether eicosanoids play a role in acute necrotizing pancreatitis. Because of the limited number of patients with acute pancreatitis admitted to the hospital each year, as well as the practical difficulties encountered in studying these patients, we had to turn to an experimental model of acute necrotizing pancreatitis. Experimental pancreatitis has been known since 1856 (9) when Claude Bernard injected a mixture of bile and oliYe oil into the pancreatic duct of a dog. We used a model based on the introduction of a bile salt into the pancreatic ducts of rats.