The kinetics of carbon clearance in rabbits stimulated by a tubercle bacillary lipid. A statistical model for carbon clearance studies.

The kinetics of the clearance of colloidal carbon from the blood of rabbits given an intravenous injection of 10 mg of a tubercle bacillary lipid were investigated at 30 minutes, 4 hours and 36 hours after the lipid injection. The elevated clearance rate at 4 hours after the lipid, which is due to an increase in the normal levels of attachment of the carbon particles to platelet and cell membranes, operates for 10 minutes after the carbon injection and then the clearance rate returns to normal. The results at 30 minutes and 36 hours after the lipid confirm in detail those previously reported. The results provide a statistical model for a “double exponential” assessment of stimulated carbon clearance rates. Carbon clearance studies should provide sufficient detail to allow application of this model before it is assumed that the clearance rates follow single order kinetics.