Short term effects of nonspecific resistance induced by endotoxin on the distribution and viability of bacteria injected into mice.

and were injected intraperitoneally into normal white mice and mice previously made tolerant to 055 B5 endotoxin. One hour after injection, the animals were killed and blood samples taken; the liver and spleen were removed and homogenized. In all cases, the tissues of endotoxin treated animals contained lower numbers of viable bacteria. When the proteins of the injected bacteria were labelled with tritiated leucine, the radioactivity of the liver, spleen and blood indicated that the numbers of bacteria present in these tissues were unaffected by the endotoxin.