The colon is the part of the digestive system which is responsible for extracting water and salt that is found in digested food. The remainder food is excreted out of the body. This site also contains healthy bacteria which are also instrumental in absorbing food and nutrients. The function of the colon can be summed up as absorption of water, potassium and fat soluble vitamins.

When colonic anastomosis of the colon occurs, there is leakage of water in the viscera. This can cause toxicity, and send the person in state of shock. Due to this the patient may experience severe pain and in extreme cases may prove to be fatal. Colonic anastomosis can also lead to ischemia or infarction.

Treatment- previous treatment of this disorder involved sealing the leakage through protective sealants in the form of fibrin adhesives or the colons could be sutured through operations.

Researchers conducted a pre-clinical study on sildenafil citrate. They experimented on rats that had normal and ischemic anastomosis by calculating

• The levels of blood
• Colonic tissues nitric oxide
• Thiobarbituric acid – acts a marker of lipid peroxidation
• Glutathione- antioxidant

The rats were administered 10 mg/kg per day of sildenafil citrate therapy after getting operated for anastomotic colons. This caused increase in the nitric oxide levels in both the normal and ischemic anastomotic tissues. Rats that had normal anastomosis showed an increase in tissue thiobarbituric acid reactive substrate levels post a sildenafil therapy 3 days to 7 days after an operation. This research also showed the beneficial effect of sildenafil citrate on erythrocyte glutathione levels in rats who had ischemic anastomosis on the third day of operation and in rats who had normal anastomosis on the 7^th day of their operation.

The final results of the study suggest that there are possibilities that sildenafil citrate affects ischemic anastomotic healing as it may have effects on nitric oxide metabolism and lipid peroxidation.

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