Pathology in rabbits treated with leukocyte-degraded meningococci in combination with meningococcal endotoxin.
The effects of a preparative dose of the leukocyte egesta containing degraded 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 as well as leukocyte egesta containing degraded Staphylococcus epidermidis. Rabbits injected subcutaneously with egesta containing degraded meningococci followed after 12 h with meningococcal endotoxin (intravenously) exhibited heterophilic leukocytosis and disseminated intravascular coagulation mainly in the pulmonary capillaries and venules; focal necroses occurred in myocardium, lungs, and liver, whereas, cortical renal necrosis developed in lethal cases. Similar lesions, however, but 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. Our findings suggest that meningococcal material from polymorphonuclear degradation plays a role in the pathology characteristic of meningococcal septicemia.
D000818:Animals; D004211:Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D004731:Endotoxins; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000502:physiology; D011817:Rabbits; D013210:Staphylococcus; D013997:Time Factors
D004731:Endotoxins