Contribution of granulocytopenia to endotoxin sensitivity of mice irradiated or undergoing graft-versus-host reaction.

Animals compromised by irradiation or graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR) are highly sensitive to endotoxin (ET). In order to determine the causes of the increased sensitivity of compromised mice, we studied alterations of hepatic (central) and bloodborne (peripheral) ET clearance processes. We observed that increased sensitivity to ET, as determined by mortality, occurred shortly after irradiation and correlated with granulocytopenia nd thrombocytopenia rather than with impairment of liver function. The involvement of granulocytes in ET clearance was indicated by injection of 51Cr-ET suspended in whole blood. By comparison with clearance of ET injected with saline or plasma, greater amounts of 51Cr-ET were sequestered in peripheral organs than in the liver. Similar results were obtained when Cr-ET in whole blood was perfused through a rat liver. ET clearance was enhanced 50% over that seen in M-199, plasma, or platelet-rich plasma. It was also found that intestinal ET contributes to mortality of granulocytopenic-thrombocytopenic mice. This was supported by the observation that bacteriologically decontaminated, irradiated animals were eight times more resistant to challenge with ET than were conventional animals. Thus, an important aspect of increased sensitivity to ET, in comprised mice, is defective peripheral clearance.