Objectives: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a known risk factor for higher morbidity and mortality after trauma. The authors tested the hypothesis that there is a difference in the response to uncontrolled hemorrhage between normal euglycemic rats and insulin-dependent diabetic rats.
Methods: Thirty-one adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. Fifteen streptozocin (STZ)-injected rats became diabetic (DM+) 2 weeks after treatment. Sixteen rats served as nondiabetic controls (DM-). All rats were anesthetized with Althesin and their femoral arteries were catheterized via cutdown, allowing continuous monitoring of vital signs. Sixteen (eight DM-, eight DM+) rats underwent uncontrolled hemorrhage by 75% tail amputation. Fifteen (eight DM-, seven DM+) rats served as non-hemorrhage controls. The mean arterial pressure (MAP), lactate, and cumulative hemorrhage volume per 100 g were measured pre-hemorrhage and then every 15 minutes post-hemorrhage for 2 hours. Data were reported as mean +/- standard deviation. Interval data were analyzed by analysis of variance (two tails, alpha = 0.05).
Results: Pre-hemorrhage glucose was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the DM+ (357.9 +/- 22.2 mg/dL) versus DM- (125.7 +/- 9.7 mg/dL) rats. At baseline, there was no significant difference in weight, MAP, or lactate between DM+ and DM- rats. Body-weight-adjusted mean cumulative hemorrhage volume was significantly greater (p < 0.04) in diabetic rats (2.52 +/- 0.15 cm(3)/100 g body weight) than the nondiabetic rats (1.86 +/- 0.25 cm(3)/100 g body weight).
Conclusions: Compared to nondiabetic rats, diabetic rats suffered a greater blood loss after the same uncontrolled vascular injury.