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  • Title: Alpha-2-macroglobulin as the major defence in acute pseudomonal septic shock in the guinea-pig model.
    Author: Khan MM, Shibuya Y, Nakagaki T, Kambara T, Yamamoto T.
    Journal: Int J Exp Pathol; 1994 Aug; 75(4):285-93. PubMed ID: 7524612.
    Abstract:
    An intravenous injection of 1.2 mg/kg of Pseudomonas aeruginosa elastase induces immediate lethal shock in guinea-pigs. In the present study, alpha-2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) was shown to be the major factor in guinea-pig plasma that inhibits the enzymatic activity of elastase in vitro. Depletion of circulating alpha 2M by injecting anti-guinea-pig alpha 2M rabbit IgG F(ab')2 rendered the animals sensitive to a dose of elastase of 0.05 mg/kg. When the alpha 2M-depleted guinea-pigs were reconstituted with human alpha 2M, this sensitivity was reversed. Lethal shock did not occur in alpha 2M-depleted animals even at an elastase dose of 0.2 mg/kg when Hageman factor was simultaneously depleted, indicating that elastase induces shock through activation of the Hageman factor-dependent system. Similar results were obtained when the culture supernatants of an elastase-producing strain, IFO-3455, were used instead of the purified elastase, whereas no cardiovascular changes occurred, even in the alpha 2M-depleted guinea-pigs, when the culture supernatants were pretreated with an elastase specific inhibitor (zincov) or when the culture supernatants of an elastase non-producing strain, PA-103 were used.
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