[Phosphatidylcholine induces an increase in the production of interleukin-6 and improves survival of rats with neonatal sepsis caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae].

Infections by gram-negative bacteria are one of the major causes of death in newborns. Bacterial clearance is deficient in septic neonates, which seems to increase their susceptibility to infections. In this study, we observed a significant improvement in clearance of Klebsiella pneumoniae in newborn wistar rats inoculated by intraperitoneal via with 800 mg k soybean phosphatidylcholine (PC), compared to the control group injected with PBS (p 0.05). The overall survival rate was improved (p 0.05) and the white blood cell counts showed a greater leukocytosis and neutrophilia during the peak of bacteremia in the PC treated animals. Circulating levels of interleukin-6 were greater in the PC group, which developed an intense splenic hematopoiesis of the granulocyte (p 0.05) and megakariocyte series (p 0.01). No significant changes were observed in bone marrow granulocyte deposits in both study groups. The improvement in survival rate, the changes in leukocyte counts and the splenic hematopoiesis may be associated with the increased production of IL-6. These results suggest that IL-6 plays a role in the protection mechanism induced by PC in this experimental model of newborn septicemia. PC seems to be an immunomodulator of the acute response to gram-negative bacterial infection.