Species differences in effect of gram-negative endotoxin on circulation

¹ Departments of Physiology and Pathology, The Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Studies were made in 5 monkeys, 7 rabbits, and 33 cats of the effect of gram-negative endotoxin on aortic, pulmonary artery (PAP), and portal venous (PVP) pressures; and on changes in weight of a short segment of intestine. Studies of blood pooling were also made in 12 cats. The responses in these species were compared with those previously observed in the dog. Although variable degrees of hypotension developed at one time or another in all animals following injection of endotoxin, the early precipitous hypotension that characteristically occurs in the dog was observed only in the cat. However, in this species the dramatic fall in pressure could be ascribed to pulmonary vascular constriction and acute right ventricular hypertension and failure, and not to splanchnic pooling. PAP also became elevated in the monkey and the rabbit, but usually was of lesser magnitude and did not appear to explain the development of the relatively late hypotension that occurred in these species. The absence of significant increases in gut weight and the minor increments in PVP in all animals indicate that in none of these species is hepatic vein constriction and splanchnic pooling a significant mechanism in producing early shock as it is in the dog. Pathologic gross and microscopic studies in the monkey and gross examinations in the other species supported this conclusion.

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