BACKGROUND Individuals engaged in work in intensive animal houses experience some of the highest rates of occupationally related respiratory symptoms. Organic dust and in particular endotoxin has been most closely associated with respiratory symptoms and lung function changes in workers. It has previously been shown that for intensive poultry operations, type of poultry housing [cage-housed (CH...

The toxicity of Salmonella typhosa 0901 W endotoxin for BALB/c mice was potentiated by the administration of 375 mg of cyclophosphamide per kg, 16 mg of daunomycin per kg, 80 mg of methotrexate per kg, 8 mg of pactamycin per kg, 20 mg of polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid per kg, 1,000 mg of procarbazine per kg, and 1 or 4 mg of vincristine per kg. l-Asparaginase (20,000 units per kg) failed to po...

Inflammatory airway disease is common in stabled horses, with a prevalence of 17.3% in Michigan pleasure horses. Stable dust is rich in endotoxin, which may induce neutrophilic airway inflammation. Climatological conditions (ambient temperature and relative humidity) may influence endotoxin concentrations in pastures. The aim of this project was to determine if endotoxin levels in the breathing...

Prostaglandin E and F (PGE and PGF) levels in sequential blood samples obtained simultaneously from the renal and portal veins and aorta during endotoxin shock in dogs were determined by radioimmunoassay. Four groups of dogs were studied. In five control dogs in which no endotoxin was given, PGE and PGF levels did not change significantly at 0, 15, 30, 60, and 90 min. In eight dogs given endoto...

AIMS Endotoxin detection assays are not validated for use in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). We investigated the accuracy and precision of the kinetic turbidimetric Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) assay to detect endotoxin in plasma from patients with ESKD. Optimisation of endotoxin recovery from plasma using the detergent Tween 80 was also explored. METHODS Plasma samples from 7 patients wi...

Increased nitric oxide (NO) production by inducible NO synthase (NOS2), an obligate homodimer, is implicated in the cardiovascular sequelae of sepsis. We tested the ability of a highly selective NOS2 dimerization inhibitor (BBS-2) to prevent endotoxin-induced systemic hypotension, myocardial dysfunction, and impaired hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) in mice. Mice were challenged with Es...

Electron microscopy has confirmed previous studies and has provided much new information on the mechanism of endotoxin-platelet interaction. The Boivin lipopolysaccharide preparation is particulate, and on electron microscope examination appears as a three-layered structure, morphologically similar to bacterial cell wall. In vitro and in vivo experiments have demonstrated that these endotoxin p...

Different routes of endotoxin administration have been used to mimic inflammatory and metabolic responses observed during sepsis. Because the origin of endotoxemia may affect the reactions to endotoxin, we compared the induction of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), hormones, and glucose production after endotoxin (1.0 microg/kg Escherichia coli 0111:B4) administration into a pe...

Acute toxic interactions of intravenously administered benzyl alcohol and Escherichia coli O55:B5 (Boivin preparation) endotoxin were examined in rodents. Lethality studies in male CD-1 mice demonstrated that these agents were more toxic when administered in combination than when either was administered alone. Prophylactic treatment with diazepam (5 mg/kg intraperitoneally) protected against le...

We have examined three different methods of endotoxin determination utilizing the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay to accurately determine endotoxin levels in Liposome Encapsulated Hemoglobin (LEH), 1) the gel-clot method, 2) chromogenic spectroscopic-based LAL, and 3) the turbidimetric method which determines endotoxin levels in solutions based on the time needed to reach a specific degree...