Zymogen activation and other early events in secretagogue-induced acute pancreatitis

Dr. Van Ecker and collaborators from Tufts-New England Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston published a very interesting article about cause-effect relationships between zymogen activation and other early events in secretagogue-induced acute pancreatitis. The article appered in American Journal of Physiology Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology (292: G1738-G1746, 2007). It was concluded: 1) that the colocalization phenomenon, F-actin redistribution, activation of proinflammatory transcription factors, and upregulated expression of cytochemokines are not the results of zymogen activation, and 2) that these early events in pancreatitis are not dependent on cathepsin B activity. In contrast, zymogen activation and increased subcellular organellar fragility during caerulein-induced pancreatitis are dependent on cathepsin B activity. The authors made a very good use of CoLocalizer Pro software to obtain these important results.