title: Visceral perfusion abnormalities following complement activation. Clues to the mediators of organ ischemia in trauma and sepsis. First place winner: Conrad Jobst Award.
abstract: Complement, activated during infection and injury, has been implicated as a mediator of microvascular injury and obstruction. This study examines how two potent activators of complement, zymosan, and cobra venom factor (CVF), affect systemic and visceral perfusion. Rats were injected with either saline (1 ml/kg), zymosan (5 mg/kg) or CVF (5 units/kg) at t = 0 and 30 minutes. Thermodilution cardiac output, mean arterial pressure, heart rate, systemic vascular resistance, and hematocrit were determined at t = 2 hours. Effective hepatic and renal blood flows, by clearance of galactose and p-aminohippurate respectively, were determined over the next hour. The per cent change in total hemolytic complement from t = 0 to t = 3 hours was determined by immune hemolysis of sheep erythrocytes. There was no difference in systemic hemodynamic parameters between the three groups. Hepatic blood flow was depressed in both the zymosan (3.83 +/- 0.23 ml/min/100 g) and CVF (3.72 +/- 0.20 ml/min/100 g) groups compared with controls (4.62 +/- 0.19 ml/min/100 g, P less than 0.05). Renal blood flow in the zymosan-treated group (6.40 +/- 0.24 ml/min/100 g) increased over control (4.80 +/- 0.40 ml/min/100 g, P less than 0.05) but was unchanged in the CVF group (5.06 +/- 0.23 ml/min/100 g). The amount of complement activated correlated with the change in hepatic (r = -0.419, P less than 0.05) but not renal (r = -0.008, P = 0.917) flow. Complement activation may occupy a proximal position in the pathogenesis of hepatic ischemia associated with trauma and sepsis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Veterans' Administration Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Schirmer
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schirmer
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Naff
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Fry
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000503:physiopathology; D001775:Blood Circulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D003167:Complement Activation; D004546:Elapid Venoms / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000187:drug effects; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology; D015054:Zymosan / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D004546:Elapid Venoms; C016310:cobra venom factor; D015054:Zymosan