General toxic effect of a chitosan-based hemostatic agent implanted in rats

Introduction. Hemostasis of ongoing bleeding during cavitary surgical interventions is an urgent problem both in civil and military healthcare. The development of new effective and affordable agents for hemostasis of internal bleeding and their introduction into clinical practice may contribute to increasing the survival of injured patients. Objective . Study of general and local toxic effects of a local hemostatic agent (LHA) for intracavitary application. Materials and methods . The study was performed on 20 mongrel rats (10 males and 10 females) weighing 180–220 g. The experimental group of animals was implanted with the LHA into the abdominal cavity at a dose of 512 mg/kg body weight (bw). The animals of the control group underwent surgery without LHA implantation. Data analysis was performed using the Microsoft Excel 2013 and Statistica 10.0 software applications. Results . The health status, body weight, food and water consumption, and mass coefficients of internal organs in the experimental animals did not differ from those in the control group. The hematological and biochemical blood parameters showed values within the reference norm. The macro- and microscopic examination of the internal organs revealed a local irritant effect of the agent under study. Conclusion . The laboratory animals tolerated the intraperitoneal implantation of the tested local hemostatic agent at a dose of 512 mg/kg bw well. A further study of its toxic properties and effectiveness is validated.