THE DECREASE IN NONSPLENIC INTERLEUKIN-6 (IL-6) PRODUCTION AFTER SPLENECTOMY INDICATES THE EXISTENCE OF A POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP OF IL-6 PRODUCTION DURING ENDOTOXEMIA IN DOGS
Hs. Moeniralam et al., THE DECREASE IN NONSPLENIC INTERLEUKIN-6 (IL-6) PRODUCTION AFTER SPLENECTOMY INDICATES THE EXISTENCE OF A POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP OF IL-6 PRODUCTION DURING ENDOTOXEMIA IN DOGS, Infection and immunity, 65(6), 1997, pp. 2299-2305
The spleen is involved in endotoxin-induced interleukin-6 (IL-6) produ
ction, To quantitate the relative contribution of the spleen to endoto
xin-induced IL-6 production, we studied the effect of endotoxin (1.0 m
u g/kg of body weight) in control dogs (n = 7) and splenectomized dogs
(n = 7), Blood for analysis of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and IL-6 w
as sampled from the femoral artery and the portal, hepatic, and spleni
c (only in controls) veins, Arterial plasma endotoxin and cortisol lev
els were also measured, Whole-body IL-6 production was calculated by a
deconvolution technique, Splenic IL-6 production in control dogs was
measured from splenic blood flow and arteriovenous concentration diffe
rences, Endotoxin levels were higher in splenectomized dogs (P < 0.05)
because of a decreased distribution volume (P < 0.05) and decreased c
learance of endotoxin (P < 0.05), Endotoxin-induced plasma IL-6 levels
were decreased by similar to 75% in splenectomized dogs (P < 0.01), a
nd whole-body IL-6 production rates were severalfold lower (median of
8.7 mg/4 h and range of 3.9 to 11.4 mg/4 h versus a median of 32.3 mg/
4 h and a range of 22.7 to 70.2 m/4 h) (P < 0.05), However, in control
dogs splenic IL-6 production (0.6 +/- 0.2 mg/4 h) was only similar to
2% of whole-body IL-6 production, Plasma TNF levels increased in both
groups (P < 0.01) but were not different between the groups. Plasma c
ortisol levels were slightly higher in splenectomized dogs than in con
trol dogs (P < 0.05), In conclusion, splenectomy decreases the distrib
ution volume and clearance rate of endotoxin, Splenectomy results in d
ecreased endotoxin-induced IL-6 production, which is caused not by the
absence of splenic IL-6 production, but by a decrease in nonsplenic I
L-6 production. Therefore, the spleen is an important mediator in the
complete activation of nonsplenic IL-6 production by endotoxin.