Endotoxin priming and liver damage by experimental duodenal obstruction inthe rat

To verify whether endotoxin (LPS) might act as a priming cofactor of liver injury caused by obstructing the duodenum, four groups of male Wistar rats were studied. The first two groups comprised rats in which a closed duodena l loop (CDL) was created: CDL, n = 6 and CDL + LPS, n = 7; the next two gro ups comprised sham-operated animals: Sham n = 6 and Sham + LPS, n = 6. LPS, 400 mu g/kg bodyweight, was administered i.p, to the rats belonging to gro ups CDL + LPS and Sham + LPS, 24 h before laparotomy. Twenty-four hours aft er laparotomy the animals were killed. Damage to bile ducts, extent and gra ding of coagulative and lytic spotty necrosis in liver tissue were evaluate d morphologically. Coagulative necrosis was severe in four of seven rats of the group CDL + LPS, mild in six of six rats of group CDL, and absent in f our of six and five of six rats of groups Sham and Sham + LPS (chi(2) 32.8, P = 0.0001). The animals of group CDL + LPS had more frequently diffuse ly tic spotty necrosis than the animals in the three other groups (chi(2) 9.57 P < 0.01). The results of our study indicate that, in rodents subjected to a closed duodenal loop, priming with LPS exacerbates liver injury due to c holate stasis.