Effect of bacterial endotoxemia on succinic dehydrogenase of liver and kidney of rabbit

¹ Department of Pathology, New York University-Bellevue Medical Center, New York City

The in vivo inhibition of liver and kidney succinic dehydrogenase by administration of lethal doses of bacterial endotoxin (Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhosa) was investigated. Quantitative determinations conducted on tissue homogenates revealed significant inhibition of activity only in liver of rabbits injected with E. coli lipopolysaccharide. The histochemical distribution of succinic dehydrogenase in fresh frozen sections of kidney was the same in both control and experimental animals. However, the centrolobular areas of liver appeared considerably depressed in activity in both E. coli and S. typhosa endotoxin-treated animals. These data, along with those presented by other studies in the literature, suggest that the action of endotoxin appears to be restricted to certain cells.