Pathophysiology and Treatment of Endotoxin Shock

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Endotoxin causes systemic collapse, disseminated intravascular coagulation and lethality, by infection of gram-negative bacteria. Although many reports the production of cytokines, the precise mechanism of pathophysiological events remained obscure. By cell biology and molecular biology techniques, we obtained following results.(1) Elucidation of relation between endotoxin and PAF receptorWe established transgenic mice overxpressing PAF receptor. These mice showed severe symptoms of endotoxin shock and death by intravenous administration of small doses of LPS.The lethality was efficiently blocked by the use of PAF receptor antagonists, suggesting that PAF-PAFR is involved in the pathogenesis of endotoxin-induced lethality.(2) Elucidation of LPS action on macrophagesBy incubating of macrophages with bacterial endotoxin, PAFR mRNA was increased several fold after 4h. MAP kinase was also activated, and the activation related to the tyrosine phosphorylation of Raf-1 kinase.