Clearance of endotoxin from blood of rabbits injected with staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin-1.

This study was undertaken to examine some of the properties of staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1) with regard to the clearance of endotoxin from blood. The concentration of endotoxin in blood was measured by using a chromogenic limulus test and modified perchloric acid method. When TSST-1, which produces fever in rabbits, was injected (100 ng/ml or 100 micrograms/ml per kg) intravenously (i.v.) into the animals, no measurable level of endotoxin was detected in the blood. In control animals, which were given 5 micrograms of endotoxin per ml per kg i.v., endotoxin could be detected in the blood at rapidly declining levels. These results suggested that TSST-1 might not lead bacterial endotoxin from other body sites into the blood. When the animals were given TSST-1 (1 to 100 ng/ml per kg) i.v. and then endotoxin (5 micrograms/ml per kg) i.v. 4 h later, endotoxin was detected in the blood at a high level, depending on the dose of TSST-1 injected. These results showed that TSST-1 inhibited the clearance of endotoxin in the blood; this clearance is thought to be mainly done by the reticuloendothelial system. In the animals given TSST-1 (100 ng/ml per kg) and endotoxin (5 micrograms/ml per kg) simultaneously, the endotoxin level in the blood was found to be higher than that in control animals given endotoxin only but lower than that in the animals given TSST-1 and then endotoxin at the same doses.