No abstract

Inorganic polyphosphates with an average degree of polymerization of 150 (polyP 150 ) have been shown to improve mortality in a lipopolysaccharide model of sepsis in mice. We aimed to investigate the effects of polyP 150 in a mouse model of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) peritonitis, which accurately reflects clinical sepsis, and elucidate its mechanism of action and suitability as a candidate for sepsis treatment. The present study demonstrated that treatment with polyP 150 significantly improved survival rate in mouse model of CLP peritonitis. polyP 150 inhibited a CLP-mediated increase in pulmonary vascular permeability as demonstrated by Evans blue dye assay. Pretreatment of polyP 150 in human vascular endothelial cells, HMEC-1 cells, showed inhibition of tumor necrosis factor-α-induced monocytic THP-1 cell adhesion and intercellular adhesion molecule 1/CD54 gene expression. These results suggest that polyP 150 ameliorates fatal sepsis by inhibiting expression of the cell adhesion molecule and the accumulation of leukocytes in the vascular endothelium, thereby suppressing the increase in vascular permeability. Our results in this study suggest that polyP 150 could be a candidate for novel sepsis treatments.