QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT OF ENDOTOXIN IN CANINE PLASMA USING THE NEW ENDOTOXIN-SPECIFIC CHROMOGENIC TEST

Abstract

Endospecy (a lyophilized mixture of factor G-free limulus coagulation enzymes and chromogenic substrate, Boc-Leu-Gly-Arg-pNA) coupled with modified perchloric acid (PCA) pretreatment was carried out for the quantitative measurement of endotoxin in canine plasma. The endotoxin recovery from normal canine plasma was 99.9 .+-. 7.7% (n = 20). The full recovery of endotoxin illustrated the applicability of the modified PCA pretreatment to the Endospecy in removal of interfering factors in canine plasma. The normal canine plasma endotoxin level was < 3.0 pg .cntdot. ml-1 which Escherichia coli 0111:B4 endotoxin was used as a reference. The canine plasma endotoxin levels were markedly high (1-40 ng .cntdot. ml-1) at 5 min after intravenous administration of 25 .mu.g .cntdot. Kg-1 (total 150-200 .mu.g).