Detection of endotoxin in the plasma of patients with gram-negative bacterial sepsis by the Limulus amoebocyte lysate assay

Abstract

A total of 120 Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) determinations were made on plasma obtained from normal, healthy human blood donors. Results demonstrated a mean endotoxin level in blood of 0.02 to 1.57 pg/ml. The amount of Escherichia coli endotoxin added to human plasma samples can be quantitated by both nephelometry and turbidimetry. Endotoxin-spiked samples were shown to be significantly different from unspiked samples. When plasma samples were collected from 45 patients hospitalized at three centers, a strong association was demonstrated between a positive Limulus amoebocyte lysate assay and a septic condition.

Plasma endotoxin levels in horses subjected to carbohydrate induced laminitis

“…No endotoxin increase was cent acetic acid. The absorbance of each sample was measured detected in the plasma of six (86 per cent) of seven horses that spectrophotometrically at 405 nm (Pearson et at 1985). The did not develop Obel Grade 3 lameness in this experiment.…”

“…The improved assays (Obayashi et al 1982;Pearson et al 1985) utilised in this investigation can now be used to determine the degree to which endotoxin is associated with laminitis and to measure the Gram-negative endotoxins present in the plasma of horses manifesting the clinical signs associated with Gram-negative endotoxaemia related to colic, diarrhoea or septicaemia.…”

Systemic Release of Endotoxins Induced by Gentle Mastication: Association With Periodontitis Severity

“…This is in accordance with the results of some investigations that have reported that a sub-clinical basal endotoxemia was found in an elderly population 49 and in middle-age healthy subjects. 50,51 We can postulate that the origin of these endotoxins could be other than oral; e.g., the intestinal tract, 52 bronchi, or lungs. 53 But from our measurements of endotoxemia after gentle mastication, it can be supposed that swallowing activity can cause some episodes of systemic release of bacterial components from oro-pharyngeal origin, especially but not exclusively in periodontitis-affected patients.…”

Picogram doses of lipopolysaccharide exacerbate antibody‐mediated thrombocytopenia and reduce the therapeutic efficacy of intravenous immunoglobulin in mice

“…However, this phenomenon required the injection of very high doses of LPS (0·1–0·5 mg/kg corresponding to approximately 50 000 EU/ml of mouse plasma). Considering the much lower doses used in human models of endotoxemia (4 ng/kg) (Michie et al , 1988; Pajkrt et al , 1997) and the very low‐endotoxin concentrations measured in the plasma of patients with non‐lethal septicaemia (1·2–8·3 EU/ml) (Pearson et al , 1985; Casey et al , 1993), the physiological relevance of the thrombocytopenia results obtained in mice using such high doses of LPS is unclear. To directly address this issue, we tested the effect of LPS on platelet counts in absence of MWReg30 in mice, by injecting more clinically relevant doses, to yield plasma concentrations ranging from 0·05 to 75 EU/ml.…”

“…Endotoxins released from Gram‐negative bacteria are responsible for severe and sometimes lethal septic shocks in humans. In addition, several reports have documented the presence of endotoxins in the plasma of healthy individuals, albeit at much lower levels than those measured in septic patients (0·01–0·07 endotoxin unit (EU)/ml and 1·2–8·3 EU/ml respectively) (Pearson et al , 1985; Casey et al , 1993; Goto et al , 1994). Bacterial endotoxins are very potent activators of mononuclear phagocytes (Chen et al , 1992).…”