Pathology in rabbits treated with leukocyte-degraded meningococci in combination with meningococcal endotoxin

Abstract

The effects of a preparative dose of the leukocyte egesta containing degraded [Neisseria meningitidis] meningococci and a provocative dose of the meningococcal lipopolysaccharide on development of pathological lesions associated with disseminated intravascular coagulation were studied in tissues of 32 rabbits. These effects were compared with effects of a single dose of meningococcal lipopolysaccharide and leukocyte egesta containing degraded Staphylococcus epidermidis. Rabbits injected s.c. with egesta containing degraded meningococci followed after 12 h with meningococcal endotoxin (i.v.) exhibited heterophilic leukocytosis and disseminated intravascular coagulation mainly in the pulmonary capillaries and venules; focal necroses occurred in myocardium, lungs and liver; cortical renal necrosis developed in lethal cases. Similar lesions, less severe and with less frequency, developed even after a single dose of meningococcal endotoxin or after endotoxin that followed a dose of supernatant fluid from normal leukocytes. Meningococcal material from polymorphonuclear degradation may play a role in the pathological meningococcal septicemia.