Endotoxin pretreatment inhibits neutrophil proliferation and function.

Gut ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) induces lung injury by a mechanism that involves neutrophils (PMNs). We have previously shown that endotoxin (LPS), when administered after gut I/R, amplifies this lung injury, while treatment with LPS prior to gut I/R prevents lung injury. The purpose of this study was to determine whether LPS pretreatment (Pre Rx) alters the PMN inflammatory component of the gut I/R injury. Specifically, we focused on whether LPS Pre Rx effected (i) PMN stem cell proliferation, (ii) gut I/R-induced PMN priming, and (iii) gut I/R-induced PMN lung sequestration. Bone marrow was harvested from normal and LPS-pretreated (0.5 mg/kg, ip, 3 days prior) rats, and colony forming units--granulocyte/macrophage (CFU-GM) were quantitated using a soft agar culture technique. In another experiment, normal and LPS-pretreated rats were subjected to gut I/R (45 min superior mesenteric artery occlusion/6 hr reperfusion), and blood and lungs were then harvested. The in vivo priming of PMN was assessed by measuring the difference in superoxide production (O2-) with and without the activating stimulus, N-formylmethionyl-leveyl-phenylalanine (fMLP). The quantity of myeloperoxidase (MPO) was used as an index of the number of PMN sequestered in lung tissue.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)