Additive effect of glucan and streptozotocin on endotoxicosis in mice.

Mice were sensitized to endotoxin lethality after pretreatment with either glucan, or a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (SZN); the effect of glucan plus SZN was clearly additive. Triamcinolone acetonide (TA) protected animals under all these conditions. SZN alone did not influence the activity of the reticuloendothelial system (RES) in either normal or glucan-injected mice. TA actually diminished the RES activation as a result of glucan pretreatment and this was also true in normal mice. Within 4 h, SZN and/or TA did not influence glycaemia in either normal or glucan-injected animals. Endotoxin very quickly depressed glycaemia and this was unaltered when various combinations of TA and SZN were given with the toxin in glucan-pretreated mice. Glucan and/or SZN did not influence basal liver carbohydrate levels but TA induced liver glycogen within 4 h in glucan-injected mice, even in presence of SZN. Endotoxin depleted liver carbohydrates within 4 h and these could not be increased even by a dose of TA that fully protected against death. These observations stress the need to redefine the hypotheses regarding the mechanism of action of bacterial endotoxins.