A quantitative study of the kinetics of blood clearance of P32-labelled Escherichia coli and Staphylococci by the reticuloendothelial system.

1. The clearance of P(32)-labelled heat-killed E. coli and staphylococci from the blood follows an exponential function of the time, and the bacteria are phagocytized principally by the RES of the liver and spleen. 2. The rates of clearance of equivalent number of E. coli from the blood is rapid in rabbits and slow in mice and appears to be related to the level of antibodies in the serum of these animals. 3. Unlike E. coli, staphylococci are cleared rapidly and efficiently by the RES from the blood of mice which have a sufficient level of serum antibody against these bacteria. 4. The numbers of bacteria, phagocytized by the liver or the spleen respectively, depend upon the rate of clearance and the extent of opsonization of the bacteria. Rapidly cleared, well opsonized E. coli are removed almost exclusively by the liver, while less efficiently phagocytized bacteria are also cleared by the spleen in large numbers. 5. The rate of clearance of E. coli and the efficiency with which they are phagocyted by the RES in mice have been shown to be directly related to the level of antibody in the serum. 6. Treatment of mice with S. typhi or Serratia marcescens endotoxins increases the rate of clearance of E. coli from the blood and the level of antibody against E. coli in the serum. The enhanced clearance of E. coli can be transferred to normal mice by the serum of endotoxin-treated mice.