Comparison of lactate and pyruvate during endotoxic shock

The livers of Sprague-Dawley rats, previously injected with endotoxin, were isolated and perfused in a controlled environment with known amounts of lactate or pyruvate. Samples were taken after one hour to determine substrate utilization, content of oxidized and reduced metabolites, adenylate energy charge and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide/nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide + ratio. In this experiment, it was found that, in the group treated with endotoxin and perfused with lactate substrate, utilization and adenylate energy charge were reduced, while the concentration of reduced metabolites and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide/nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide + ratio were increased. We conclude that infusion of lactate solutions to patients in a state of shock may have an adverse effect upon cellular function.