Detection of Potential Biochemical Indicators of Infection in the Burned Rat
Abstract
Severe thermal injury is often complicated by infection. Moreover, the injury itself renders the early detection of infection more difficult. Rapid early detection of infection would thus aid in the treatment of severely burned patients. PCA filtrates of whole blood from burned-infected rats contain three substances that appear to be early indicators of infection in the thermally injured animal. These factors are only slightly affected by the extent of injury. These factors do not appear to be microorganism-specific in that they are found in rats infected with Proteus mirabilis as well as with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. One factor absorbs light at 398 nm and seems to be associated with some cellular component of blood. The other two substances are fluorescent, one lamda ex 280 nm lamda em 340 nm, the other lamda ex 355 nm lamda 3m 420 nm, and are detectable in PCA filtrates of plasma as well as of whole blood. All factors are retained by filters with a 25,000 dalton pore size. All factors are precipitable from PCA filtrates by phosphotungstic acid, suggesting that they may be proteins. The 355/420 factor increases with oxidation, whereas both the 280/340 substance and the 398 nm material decrease.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 20, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA112828
Entities
People
- Basil A. Pruitt Jr.
- Harrel L. Walker
- John Dubois
- Michael C. Powanda
- Ysidro Villarreal
Organizations
- United States Army Institute of Surgical Research