We describe an improved in-vitro procedure for detection of endotoxin in human blood and plasma by use of Limulus amoebocyte lysate. Increasing concentrations of Escherichia coli endotoxin added to a constant amount of the lysate cause a proportional increase in protein precipitated by the endotoxin. By measuring the amount of protein precipitated, it was possible to determine the equivalent E....

Endotoxins are derived from gram-negative bacteria and are a potential respiratory health risk for animals and humans. To determine the potential for endotoxin transport from a large open-lot dairy, total airborne endotoxin concentrations were determined at an upwind location (background) and five downwind locations on three separate days. The downwind locations were situated at of the edge of ...

The effect of various schedules for inducing tolerance to bacterial endotoxin in donor rabbits upon suitability for demonstration of passive transfer of tolerance to pyrogenicity in normal recipients has been investigated. Long-term treatment of donors, through 5 weeks, is no more effective than a brief series of injections, adding further evidence that tolerance is not attributable to specific...

Infections produce significant respiratory muscle weakness, but the mechanisms by which inflammation reduces muscle force remain incompletely understood. Recent work suggests that caspase 3 releases actin and myosin from the contractile protein lattice, so we postulated that infections may reduce skeletal muscle force by activating caspase 3. The present experiments were designed to test this h...

Endotoxin was given to grey collie dogs to investigate the mechanism of cyclic hematopoiesis. Over prolonged periods of daily administration, low doses of endotoxin (0.1 microgram/kg/day) failed to change the cycling of blood neutrophils or reticulocytes. However, higher doses of endotoxin maintained at a plateau level (5 microgram/kg/day) eliminated the cyclic changes in neutrophils and stabil...

Decreased glucocorticoid binding has been observed at a time after endotoxin (3 to 6 h) when imparied liver enzyme induction is known to occur. This study was undertaken to characterize the early time course of hypoglycemia and decreased liver phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) activity in intact and adrenalectomized mice given endotoxin. In addition, altered steroid induction of hepatic...

A variety of invasive stimuli have been shown to induce hyperlipidemia due to impaired removal of triglyceride from the circulation. The mechanism by which endotoxin induces a deficiency in the activity of the key enzyme of triglyceride metabolism, lipoprotein lipase (LPL), has been studied. In C3H/HeN (endotoxin-sensitive) mice, LPL activity in adipose tissue was markedly suppressed 16 h after...

Farrar, W. Edmund, Jr. (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D.C.), Laurence M. Corwin, and Thomas H. Kent. Mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and susceptibility to endotoxin in acute liver injury. J. Bacteriol. 90:1365-1372. 1965.-Acute liver injury was produced in guinea pigs with three chemically unrelated hepatotoxins: CCl(4), allyl alcohol, and dl-ethionine. The effects of t...

Particulate prosthetic materials are often studied by adding them to monocytic cells in vitro and measuring the release of cytokines as an indicator of their inflammatory potential. Endotoxin is known to be a contaminant of particle preparations and also stimulates the release of cytokines. It is usual to use a proprietary endotoxin test to avoid erroneous results. Four different formulations o...

Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis parasporal crystal delta-endotoxin was purified by ultracentrifugation on a discontinuous sucrose gradient. Native delta-endotoxin crystals showed no detectable toxicity in the vitro and in vivo systems that are described. By contrast alkali-solubilized crystal delta-endotoxin caused rapid cytological and cytopathological changes in Aedes albopictus, Chori...