Changes of membrane conductance and permeability by constituents of normal and burned skin.

Generation and release of toxic factors from burned tissue is an important pathogenetic mechanism after severe thermal injury. In this paper the interactions between cell membranes or artificial lipid bilayer membranes and burn toxin were studied. It turned out that low concentrations of the toxic material released from dermal tissue by standardized thermal injury or mechanical homogenization create significant permeability changes. The dependence of the effect upon salt concentration, lipid composition, and voltage was investigated. High current resolution experiments did not reveal formation of defined pores. In general, the studies show that burn toxin introduces hydrophilic pathways into cell membranes as well as lipid bilayers. The effects measured in this work are likely to play a major role in the etiology of tissue edema after burns.