Alterations of the Immune Response Following Severe Thermal Injury

Enhanced Hemolytic Antibody Response Following Thermal Injury

“…In contrast to reports of depressed cellular immune responses after burn injury [1][2][3], and consistent with reports of adequate [5,9,10] or slightly elevated [1,3,6] humoral responses, we find that the concentra tion of 19 S, IgM antibody-secreting cells in the spleen is significantly increased in the thermally injured rat.…”

“…Endotoxin from gram-negative microorganisms, common inhabitants of the burn wound [2,3,5,9] is a very effective adjuvant [18]; in addition, the oligonucleotides released from destroyed cells might also have an ad juvant effect in the postburn period [18]. It has been shown that the rate of flow of lymph in the thoracic duct [6] and therefore lymphocyte recirculation is increased postburn.…”

“…Since this enhance ment was present in animals immunized up to 20 days postburn, the possible role of adjuvants liberated by the burn injury is considered. The role of the interaction between thymus-processed and marrow-derived lymphocytes in this enchancement is also discussed.Diminished resistance to infection in burn patients and burned ex perimental animals has been linked to impaired cellular immunity [1][2][3] and depressed phagocytosis by the cells of the reticuloendothelial system [2,4,5]. Depressed cellular immunity has been demonstrated by de layed allograft rejection [1] and transient cutaneous anergy to tuberculin [6].…”

“…Ear lier studies of scrum immunoglobulin levels in burn patients indicated severely depressed levels of IgG, but normal levels of IgM [12,13]. While the hemagglutinating activity of lymph from burned rats is in creased for both heterologous and autologous red cells [6], a decrease in both the primary and anamnestic agglutination response to human eryth rocytes in burned rats has also been reported [2].…”

The Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) Response in the Thermally Injured Rat

“…It is generally believed that cellular immunity is suppressed during this period. The clinical impression exists that skin graft tolerance is increased following burns [1][2][3], and this has been documented in rats [4]. Transient cutaneous anergy has been demonstrated in guinea pigs after burn injury [5,6].…”