Abstract
Summary
Experiments were designed with rats to determine: (i) whether reticuloendothelial system (RES) phagocytic function undergoes quantitative, sequential changes after acute blood loss; and (ii) whether RES phagocytic indices (K values) are correlated with survival or death of the animals. The results indicate that: (i) RES phagocytic function does, indeed, undergo sequential, quantitative changes in animals subjected to various degrees of acute hemorrhagic shock. (ii) The greater the degree of hemorrhagic shock (as determined by mortality), the greater is the magnitude of early RES phagocytic depression. (iii) Animals which survive after various degrees of hemorrhagic shock not only show, with time, progressively improved RES phagocytic indices but exhibit hyperfunctional reticuloendothelial systems. (iv) Animals which succumb from these procedures fail to exhibit either progressively improved K values or hyperfunctional RE systems and thus continue to manifest RE systems which are markedly depressed up until death. Overall, these data could be used to suggest that numerical RES phagocytic indices may be diagnostic and prognostic parameters of the shock syndrome.
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