Intra-abdominal sepsis and adrenergic receptor response

This study measured the adrenergic receptor response of 13 patients with severe intra-abdominal sepsis, who required laparotomy and an open abdominal closure with Marlex mesh. The source of the sepsis was gram-negative organisms of intestinal origin. There were seven survivors and six nonsurvivors. When the patients were stratified into survivors and nonsurvivors, the Septic Severity Score, the APACHE II score, the Acute Physiological Score, and the Glasgow Coma Scale score results were not significantly different between groups. The alpha-2 and beta-1 adrenergic receptor responses were measured in the adipose tissue of the abdominal wall and the small bowel mesentery on day 1 of admission to the intensive care unit. The results demonstrated that the alpha-2 and beta-1 receptors of the nonsurvivors had a significantly decreased receptor response with desensitization and down regulation. The alpha-2 and beta-1 receptors of the survivors had an increased response with hypersensitization and up regulation. This study indicates that the adrenergic receptor pattern is distinctly different between survivors and nonsurvivors with severe abdominal gram-negative sepsis. The pattern differences occurred early (within 24 hours) when the patients had similar physiologic profiles. It is concluded that adrenergic receptor response may be a biologic indicator of the magnitude of the septic injury and a predictor of outcome.