Induction of the generalized Shwartzman reaction in pregnant and nonpregnant rats by colchicine.
The intravenous injection of colchicine (2 mg/kg body weight) into pregnant rats on the last 4 to 5 days of gestation induced disseminated intravascular coagulation, occluding glomerular capillaries with fibrin thrombi, typical of the generalized Shwartzman reaction. Thrombi did not form earlier than 9 hours after the injection of colchicine, whereas in the endotoxin-induced generalized Shwartzman reaction, thrombi were already observed 2(1/2) hours after the injection of endotoxin. The colchicine-induced generalized Shwartzman reaction could also be produced in hysterectomized "pregnant" rats. A single injection of colchicine into nonpregnant rats did not induce disseminated intravascular coagulation. If, however, fibrinolysis was inhibited with epsilon-aminocaproic acid, the colchicine-induced generalized Shwartzman reaction could also be elicited in nonpregnant rats. In this regard fibrinolysis inhibition represents one mechanism by which pregnancy prepares for the generalized Shwartzman reaction.
D000614:Aminocaproates / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D003078:Colchicine; D004211:Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation / Q000139:chemically induced; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000494:pharmacology; D004926:Escherichia coli; D005260:Female; D005342:Fibrinolysis / Q000187:drug effects; D007044:Hysterectomy; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D012790:Shwartzman Phenomenon / Q000139:chemically induced*; D013997:Time Factors; D014599:Uterus / Q000502:physiology
D000614:Aminocaproates; D004731:Endotoxins; D003078:Colchicine