Effect of constituents of burned skin and in vivo skin burning on the respiratory activity of rat liver mitochondria.

The formation of toxic substances in the skin, due to the influence of thermal energy, is supposed to be one possible mechanism responsible for the high mortality rate after severe burns covering large areas of the body surface. The effects of low-molecular-weight volatile substances (dry distillates) generated after burning mouse skin were investigated. They led to reductions of the respiratory activity of rat liver mitochondria. Among other substances carbon disulphide, methylethylketone and pyrrole were isolated and characterized using gas chromatography. All of them had strong uncoupling effects on mitochondrial respiration. In a second study respiratory measurements were made on mitochondria from rats with 20-30 per cent TBSA full skin thickness burns. A decreased respiratory control ratio and thus uncoupling of mitochondrial respiration was found on days 1, 2 and 5 postburn. The basal mitochondrial respiration was significantly decreased on day 5, which could be important for the mortality mentioned above. Finally after cross-transplantations rats having burned skin grafted showed a reduction of the RCR when compared with rats with the unburned graft. Thus it can be concluded that toxic substances must have been present in burned skin.