Septicaemia caused by gram-negative pathogens is a dangerous infection which is associated with high incidence of liver dysfunction. The severe and acute hepatotoxicity is presumably due to massive release of endotoxin into systemic circulation after bacterial killing. The direct toxic effect of endotoxin is probably due to the increased production of reactive oxygen intermediates as O 2 - , p...

The hypertriglyceridemia of infection was traditionally thought to represent the mobilization of substrate to fuel the body's response to the infectious challenge. However, we have previously shown that triglyceride-rich lipoproteins can protect against endotoxin-induced lethality. The current studies examine the mechanism by which this protection occurs. Rats infused with a lethal dose of endo...

This technical report addresses the problem of endotoxin contamination of apolipoprotein reagents. Using a bromodeoxyuridine incorporation cell proliferation assay, we observed that human plasma ApoA-I as low as 1 μg/ml resulted in a >90% inhibition in macrophage proliferation. However, not all ApoA-I from different sources showed this effect. We considered the possibility that endotoxin contam...

Endotoxin -induced sepsis is a leading cause of ICU mortality. From 1994 to the present, PMX-HP has been available as an adjuvant therapy for endotoxin removal and immunomodulation. The efficacy usefulness this have demonstrated more than quarter century are partially supported by clinical studies. However, it appears that selected subgroups patients with endotoxic shock appropriate timing coul...

IFN-gamma permits the endotoxin-induced production of cachectin by C3H/HeJ (endotoxin resistant) macrophages, apparently by facilitating endotoxin-induced cachectin biosynthesis at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. IFN-gamma cannot induce cachectin biosynthesis by itself, nor does it markedly enhance cachectin production by endotoxin-induced peritoneal macrophages obtained fr...

In rat peritoneal macrophages, engaged in erythrophagocytosis in vitro, endotoxin stimulated heme oxygenase (HO) activity, which was additive to the substrate-mediated enzyme induction produced by the ingested erythrocyte hemoglobin. Endotoxin neither appeared to injure the erythrocytes, nor did it enhance the rate of erythrophagocytosis. In intact rats, HO activity in both parenchymal and sinu...

A pilot study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using the Limulus endotoxin assay to detect endotoxins in potable waters and from reclaimed advanced waste treatment (AWT) plant effluents. Water samples were tested using both Limulus lysates prepared in our laboratory and a commercial product, Difco Pyrotest. The Limulus assay procedure was easily adapted to the testing of water samp...

The involvement of macrophages in the induction of metallothionein (MT) synthesis by bacterial endotoxin was studied in vitro. Rat peritoneal macrophages were incubated with endotoxin. The incubation medium from endotoxin-activated macrophages accelerated MT synthesis by human hepatic Chang cells. However, the incubation medium from non-activated macrophages did not. Endotoxin added to the cult...

Endotoxin, the lipopolysaccharide cell wall constituent of Gram-negative bacteria, produces symptoms of the Gram-negative sepsis syndrome. By measuring endotoxin in blood from septic patients it may be possible to select a subpopulation of patients in which mortality can be prevented by treatment with anti-endotoxin antibodies. We evaluated the performance of an endotoxin-free blood-collection ...

We identified home characteristics associated with the level of airborne endotoxin in 111 Boston-area homes enrolled in a cohort study of home exposures and childhood asthma, and we developed a predictive model to estimate airborne endotoxin. We measured endotoxin in family-room air and in dust from the baby's bed, family room, bedroom, and kitchen floor. Level of airborne endotoxin was weakly ...