System to examine the effect of endotoxin on the lung transit of radiolabelled neutrophils

Many cases of adult respiratory distress syndrome develop after gram negative septicaemia, or other conditions such as burns or trauma, which may result in exposure to the lipopilysaccharide moiety (LPS) of bacterial endotoxins. The parenteral administration of LPS has been used to produce animal models of pulmonary vascular injury which in some species appears to be dependent upon the presence of circulating neutrophils. Thus the interaction between neutrophils and vascular endothelial cells may be a critical initial step in the development of tissue injury in endotoxaemic states. The authors discuss their system for examining the transit of radiolabelled neutrophils through the pulmonary vasculature