Effect of early propranolol administration on portal hypertensive gastropathy in cirrhotic rats

Table 1 Number of rats and causes of death

	Total number of deaths n (%)	Cause of death
		Variceal bleeding	CCl4 toxicity	Improper manipulation
Group A (n = 30)	7 (23.3)	1	4	2
Group B (n = 30)	5 (16.67)	2	-	3

Table 2 Portal pressure in group A and B

	Portal pressure (mmHg)
	Mean	Minimum	Maximum	SD
Group A (n = 23)	11.60	9.20	14.3	1.36
Group B (n = 25)	14.61	11.3	18.2	1.84

Propranolol causes significant decrease (P < 0.05) in portal pressure.

Table 3 Results of morphometric analysis and comparison between groups

	Group A	Group B	P
Total area of submucosal vessels (μm2)	47 441.37 ± 24 299.48	47 539.12 (33 295.84, 55 931.07)	0.0037
Mean cross sectional area of submucosal vessels (μm2)	4682.70 (3571.92, 6350.68)	5911.17 ± 1963.34	0.09
Number of submucosal vessels	5 (4, 7)	8 (7, 9)	0.01
Total area of superficial gastric mucosal vessels (μm2)	7004.03 ± 2438.37	10 994.49 ± 3746.56	0.0001
Mean cross sectional area of superficial mucosal vessels (μm2)	642.78 ± 432.59	573.70 (475.08, 623.39)	0.25
Number of superficial gastric mucosal vessels	12 (9, 14)	20 (17, 24)	0.00001
Total area of deep gastric mucosal vessels (μm2)	6916.76 (3694.98, 8016.40)	19 367.84 ± 7034.08	0.0008
Mean cross sectional area of deep gastric mucosal vessels (μm2)	834.88 (554.05, 953.04)	982.90 (697.11, 1249.35)	0.1
Number of deep gastric mucosal vessels	9 (7, 11)	20 (16, 22)	0.00001

Values are mean ± SD or median (lower, upper quartiles).