Neuro-hormonal host defence in endotoxin shock.

The sensitivity (LD100) of mice to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) endotoxin and to its toxic moiety, lipid A (LA), increased 500-fold after adrenalectomy (ADX). Inhibition of glucocorticoid synthesis in intact mice by metyrapone had a similar, though less dramatic, sensitizing effect to LPS. In ADX mice, the serum level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) was 40-60 times higher than that in controls at 2 h after LPS/LA treatment. In intact mice the serum corticosterone level fell 1 h after lipid A injection to below detectable levels, which was followed by a brisk increase reaching the peak level of 48-50 micrograms/100 ml at 2 h. Both TNF production and the lethal effect of PLS/LA could be inhibited in ADX mice by glucocorticoid treatment. Plasma prolactin was increased significantly 1 h after endotoxin administration in both intact and ADX animals.