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Abstract Objectives This study was conducted to evaluate whether sildenafil effectively treats necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Methods Thirty-eight rat pups were divided into 4 groups: control, sildenafil-control, NEC, and sildenafil-NEC (Sil-NEC). NEC was induced by hypoxia/reoxygenation and cold stress. The pups were treated by administering 1 mg/kg sildenafil by intraperitoneal injection once a day until the fourth postnatal day. The tissues were stained with hematoxylin/eosin staining and examined with the TUNEL test for apoptosis. The intestinal levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), caspase-3, and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-px) activity were quantified. Results TUNEL positivity (p=0.002) and intestinal damage grade (p<0.001) were found to be significantly lower in the Sil-NEC group. In addition, MDA, IL-1β, iNOS, caspase-3 levels, and GSH-px activity were also found to be significantly lower in the Sil-NEC group (p<0.001, p=0.004, p=0.011, p=0.026, p=0.002 respectively). Conclusions In this study, sildenafil has been shown to reduce intestinal damage and prevent the development of necrosis biochemically and histopathologically, with its antioxidant, anti-apoptotic, and anti-inflammatory effects, in the treatment of the experimental necrotizing enterocolitis model. This may suggest that sildenafil can be used to treat necrotizing enterocolitis, but further clinical studies are required.
İpek et al. (Sun,) studied this question.