EFFECTS OF BACTERIAL ENDOTOXIN ON METABOLISM

Abstract

Cortisone protected mice of different strains against a lethal dose of Salmonella typhimurium endotoxin when the 2 were injected concurrently. No protection occurred with inadequate amounts of cortisone or excessive quantities of endotoxin. Blood sugar, liver glycogen, muscle glycogen, and total carbohydrate in the skinned, eviscerated carcass were virtually depleted in endotoxin-poisoned mice while animals given cortisone alone had concentrations of carbohydrate 3 to 4 times those of normal mice. Animals protected with cortisone against a lethal dose of endotoxin had 2 to 3 times as much carbohydrate as those given endotoxin but less carbohydrate than normal animals. An adrenergic blocking agent (dibenzyline) failed to alter the toxicity or the carbohydrate changes produced by endotoxin. Endotoxin lowered body temperature of mice 2[degree]-3[degree] C at dosages employed and prevented conversion of injected glucose into liver glycogen but not into muscle glycogen. Mouse liver mitochondria released from adenosine-triphosphate (ATP) approximately the same amount of inorganic phosphate in the presence of either endotoxin or 2,4-dinitrophenol.