INTRODUCTION The objective of this study was to determine the effects of the administration of the coagulation factor XIII (F XIII) on intestinal functional capillary density, leukocyte adherence and mesenteric plasma extravasation during experimental endotoxemia. METHODS In a prospective, randomized, controlled animal study 42 male Wistar rats were divided into three groups. Group 1 served a...

Endotoxemia produces elevations in catecholamine levels in the pulmonary and systemic circulation as well as rapid increases in neutrophil number and proinflammatory cytokine expression in the lungs. In the present experiments, we examined the effects of endogenous and exogenous adrenergic stimulation on endotoxin-induced lung neutrophil accumulation and activation. Levels of interleukin (IL)-1...

RATIONALE The role of monocytes in acute endotoxemia has been ascribed to systemic release of mediators within the central circulation. Little is known about the potential role of "marginated" monocytes in regulating microvascular inflammatory signaling. OBJECTIVES To investigate whether lung-marginated monocytes can locally activate pulmonary endothelial cells through cell contact-dependent ...

BACKGROUND Endotoxemia is exaggerated and contributes to systemic inflammation and atherosclerosis in patients requiring continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). The risk of mortality is substantially increased in patients requiring CAPD for >2 years. However, little is known about the effects of long-term CAPD on circulating endotoxin and cytokine levels. Therefore, the present study ...

BACKGROUND Hyperalgesia is a well recognized hallmark of disease. Pro-inflammatory cytokines have been suggested to be mainly responsible, but human data are scarce. Changes in pain threshold during systemic inflammation evoked by human endotoxemia, were evaluated with three quantitative sensory testing methods. METHODS AND RESULTS Pressure pain thresholds, electrical pain thresholds and tole...

BACKGROUND Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common female endocrinopathy of unclear origin characterized by hyperandrogenism, oligo-/anovulation, and ovarian cysts. Women with PCOS frequently display overweight, insulin resistance, and systemic low-grade inflammation. We hypothesized that endotoxemia resulting from a leaky gut is associated with inflammation, insulin resistance, fat accumu...

OBJECTIVES The role of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced myocardial dysfunction has not been clearly defined. Our aim was to investigate the contribution of p38 MAPK in myocardial tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) expression, cardiac function and survival during acute endotoxemia in mice. METHODS Acute endotoxemia was induced by L...

Increased release of endothelium-derived relaxing factor/nitric oxide has been proposed as the final common pathway for vasodilator responses to gram-negative lipopolysaccharide (endotoxin). To test this hypothesis, we examined endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasodilator agents in vascular smooth muscle isolated from guinea pigs 16 hours after injection of saline (control grou...

INTRODUCTION Severe sepsis is associated with an unacceptably high rate of mortality. Recent studies revealed elevated levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a potent angiogenic and vascular permeability factor, in patients with sepsis. There was also an association between VEGF levels and sepsis severity. Here we investigate the effects of an anti-VEGF antibody (Bevacizumab, Bev)...

Chronic heavy alcohol use is known to cause gut leakiness and alcoholic liver disease (ALD), but only 30% of heavy drinkers develop increased intestinal permeability and ALD. The hypothesis of this study was that disruption of circadian rhythms is a potential risk factor in actively drinking alcoholics for gut leakiness and endotoxemia. We studied 20 subjects with alcohol use disorder (AD) and ...