Alterations in Type and Bactericidal Activity of Mouse Peritoneal Phagocytes after Intraperitoneal Administration of Endotoxin

The Role of Endotoxin in Periodontal Disease III. Correlation of the Amount of Endotoxin in Human Gingival Exudate with the Histologic Degree of Inflammation

“…Although "precise" evidence of the capability of endotoxin to penetrate in tact crevicular epithelium has not yet been presented, it will be recalled that Rizzo 24 in a recent article has shown that 40% of the rabbits with intact epithelium, treated with endotoxin powder, in his study, although failing to show signs of a localized Shwartzman reac tion, did demonstrate a "considerable neutrophil infiltra tion with some edema" in the tissues. Though Rizzo did not accept the neutrophilic infiltrates as a biologic indicator of endotoxin absorption, the findings of Jensen et al 22,23,25 in their studies, that endotoxin has the abil ity to stimulate neutrophilic migration and activity dur ing the stimulatory phase, the findings by Jensen et al 22 that as little as 0.19 fig of endotoxin resulted in neutro philic migration, the finding by Rizzo and Mergenhagen 26 that endotoxin injected intramucosally into rabbit palatal gingiva produced an acute inflammatory reaction replete with neutrophils, the finding by Larson et al 27 that his endotoxin determination test is about 10 times more sensitive than the localized Shwartzman re action for determining endotoxin, and the finding that gingival exudate, processed so as to isolate endotoxin, and tested using Larson et al's method, 27 produced a neutrophilic infiltrate in the abdominal skin of rabbits, 1 would seem to indicate that Rizzo did in fact demon strate that sufficient absorption of endotoxin through intact epithelium had taken place to evoke a "histo logic reaction"; a neutrophil infiltrate rather than a lo calized Shwartzman reaction which is not as sensitive an indicator of endotoxin activity.…”

“…In a recent investigation on humans, Jense et al, 22 using the "skin window" technique, have shown that the ad ministration of endotoxin caused an immediate and con tinued migration of neutrophils. Furthermore, in an other study, Jensen et al 23 have discovered that after an initial depression in the number of inflammatory cells oral bacterial endotoxin administration causes a stimula tion in the number of inflammatory cells, with increased capacities to phagocytize and destroy bacteria. Also, our present study and a previous investigation, 2 have demonstrated that the quantity of endotoxin can be sta tistically correlated to the clinical and histologic degrees of inflammation.…”