<![CDATA[Background Sepsis remains a leading cause of intensive-care mortality, primarily through multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) driven by overlapping pro-inflammatory and oxidative-stress pathways. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and malondialdehyde (MDA) represent these two pathways, yet few studies have correlated both biomarkers with histopathological damage across five vital organs simultaneously. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the association of serum IL-6 and MDA levels with multiorgan tissue-damage scores in an Escherichia coli-induced rat sepsis model. Methods This true-experimental, post-test-only control group study used nine male Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) allocated to three groups (n=3 each): an uninduced control and two groups given intraperitoneal Escherichia coli at 1 × 10⁶ and 1.5 × 10⁶ CFU/kgBW. Serum IL-6 (ELISA) and MDA (TBARS) levels, alongside semi-quantitative histopathology scores of five organs (liver, spleen, heart, kidney, and lung), were assessed 72 hours post-induction. Associations were analyzed using the Spearman correlation test. Results IL-6 correlated significantly with damage scores of the liver (r=0.828; p=0.006), spleen (r=0.887; p=0.001), heart (r=0.917; p<0.001), total lung score (r=0.874; p=0.002), and kidney (r=0.678; p=0.045), but not with alveolar dilatation (r=0.390; p=0.300). MDA correlated very strongly with the liver (r=0.931), spleen (r=0.965), heart (r=0.952), and total lung score (r=0.952; all p<0.001), but not significantly with the kidney (r=0.574; p=0.106). Furthermore, IL-6 and MDA were strongly inter-correlated (r=0.879; p=0.002). Conclusions In this Escherichia coli-induced rat sepsis model, serum IL-6 and MDA were both associated with the degree of multiorgan tissue damage and were strongly correlated with each other, a pattern compatible with coupling between inflammatory and oxidative pathways. Renal damage showed the weakest associations of the organs examined, suggesting organ-specific differences that warrant targeted investigation.]]>
