Antibody synthesis to peptidoglycan polysaccharide after ischemic injury of the intestine.

BALB/c mice (ischemia: 31; controls: 15) were studied to investigate the effects of intestinal ischemia on antibody synthesis to peptidoglycan polysaccharide (PGPS), a ubiquitous bacterial antigen found in both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The gut ischemia model was produced by placing a vessel loop around the superior mesenteric vessels for 45 minutes. All animals in the ischemia group had visible gut ischemia. Eighteen animals (58%) in the ischemia group survived to 24 hours and all experienced total recovery of gut viability. Single-cell suspensions of splenic lymphocytes were made. After 5 days of culture with lipopolysaccharide, anti-PGPS immunoglobulin concentrations in culture supernatants were measured by ELISA using high-titer BALB/c anti-PGPS serum as control. The synthesis of immunoglobulin by 10(5) lymphocytes was significantly increased in the ischemia group compared with the controls. These results represent the translocation of bacteria after intestinal ischemia, and this antibody response may be important in resistance to sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction attributed to bacterial translocation.