High Susceptibility of Strain A Mice to Endotoxin and Endotoxin-Red Blood Cell Mixtures

Abstract

Heppner, Gloria (University of California, Berkeley), and David W. Weiss . High susceptibility of strain A mice to endotoxin and endotoxin-red blood cell mixtures. J. Bacteriol. 90: 696–703. 1965.—Strain A mice were shown to be considerably more susceptible to lethal effects of endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) than mice of several other strains. Complexes of sublethal quantities of LPS and sheep red blood cells were synergistically toxic for strain A mice. Separate administration of sheep red blood cells and heat-killed salmonellae, in either order and as long as 24 hr apart, also proved to be synergistically lethal for strain A mice, but not for R III animals studied comparatively. Sheep red blood cell lysates possessed the ability of the intact cells in forming lethal combinations for strain A mice with killed salmonellae. Strain A red blood cell-killed salmonellae complexes were also lethal for strain A mice, but less so then complexes made with sheep red blood cells. A × R III F 1 hybrid animals showed the same resistance characteristics as the resistant R III parental strain. Possible explanations for these findings are suggested, and their relevance to an immunological mode of action of endotoxin lethality is discussed.