Comparison of the effects of a synthetic polyribonucleotide with the effects of endotoxin on selected host responses.

An injection of a small dose (1 to 50 mug) of synthetic polyriboinosinic acid complexed with polyribocytidylic acid (poly I:poly C) inhibited the induction of tryptophan oxygenase by cortisone acetate; it induced tyrosine amino transferase, and it accelerated the loss of liver glycogen reserves. It also resulted in first a suppression followed by an activation of the reticuloendothelial system as judged by the rates of carbon clearance from blood. All of these responses are elicited by comparable doses of endotoxin. Pretreatment of mice with poly I:poly C did not, or only marginally, increased their nonspecific resistance to infection with several bacterial pathogens, and it failed to result in the development of tolerance to endotoxin, effects known to be produced by endotoxin when given under similar conditions.