[Demonstration and partial characterization of cardiotoxic and neutrotoxic substances in the serum of burnt patients (author's transl)].

Cardio-circulatory and neurological complications may appear between the second and seventh day of treatment of severely burnt (greater than 30% of body surface, 3rd degree) patients between the 2nd and 7th day, even if their lesions follow an apparently favorable course. The purpose of the present work was to isolate substances from the sera of such patients which would be responsible for the toxic effects. The sera of several patients were fractionated by Cohn's method n degree 6 and the fractions were tested in vivo in rabbits, rats and mice for their toxic effects. We could demonstrate in some of the fractions (II + III, IV and VI) toxic activity on the central nervous system, on the cardiocirculatory and respiratory systems. An acute toxic activity was also present as well as a substance increasing the permeability of the blood-brain barrier. All these factors together may be involved in the production of the above-mentioned clinical symptoms. Their appearance may depend on the concentration of toxic substances in the blood and on the resistance of the patients.